The reasons why they march on the square today, prima facie
Just after 2 p.m., in Plaza Houssay, Clara Gutiérrez, a young engineering student, raised the Argentine flag with her classmates. “I am the first person in my family to go to university. My father works as a taxi driver and my mother is a domestic help. He tried everything possible to get me here. “I don’t want their efforts to go waste because of government policies,” she said enthusiastically, unfolding a piece of cardboard and adding, “Education is not for sale, it is to be defended.”
Like Gutierrez, thousands of students, teachers and graduates gathered once again federal march To demand that the national government not cut funding of public universities,
From the square located in the center of the Recoleta neighborhood, the main column of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) headed for the National Congress. Deans, representatives of unions and thousands of students and graduates walked forming an endless line that proceeded along Córdoba Avenue. “Public education is a right, not a privilege,” they chanted while waving flags in their faculty’s colours.
This is the second university march of the year and, like the previous march on April 23, it is expected to draw thousands of people across the country. The main reason: to express rejection of the government’s measures, including a veto on educational funding legislation approved by Congress and a significant budget cut for the year 2025. Additionally, protesters also protest the closing of programs and scholarships that allowed many students to continue their careers.
Alicia Ramos, a history professor at the National University of Rosario, declared, “This is an attack on the entire educational system.” “This adjustment not only impacts faculty salaries, but also the educational quality, research input, and scholarships that allow our students to continue their studies.” Ramos, like many other teachers from the country’s interior, came from Santa Fe to join the march in the capital.
Luis Morales, a pediatrician who studied at UBA, marched with his young children. “I was able to study at a public university, graduate, and today I have a good job. It saddens me to think that this possibility could be taken away from the next generations,” he commented as his children played with the Argentine flag. Morales, like many other graduates, feels the need to give back to the university for everything it has given them: “That’s why I’m here today, to protect it.”
As more people approached the Congress, applause could be heard from various quarters. From young people just starting their studies, to graduates and professionals with long experience. 42-year-old economist Gabriela Miguel also joined the march. “When I was studying at the National University of Córdoba I was able to get a scholarship. Had it not been for that help I would not have been able to complete my degree. “Today I see many of those opportunities being lost, and that makes me very sad.”
“It’s not an isolated claim, it’s a defense of a fundamental right,” concluded Camila Ruiz, a social sciences student at the National University of La Plata. “They are not going to take away what is ours: the right to study, to research and to progress,” he said.
Students from private universities also participated in the march. For example, Juana López, 22, studies business administration at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE). He explained that public universities are pillars of social progress in Argentina.
“It is already difficult enough for children to complete primary and secondary school, with many of them ending it early, as well as limiting their chances of studying at university, which could lead to better opportunities. It will be a turning point in his life,” Lopez lamented.