An organization of Oaxaca parents has demanded that the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) intervene in a teachers’ strike that has left thousands of students without classes for more than two weeks.

The State Council for Social Participation in Education (Cepse) charged that situation in the state is critical, citing incidents in schools in the Coast region where parents have resorted to threatening teachers with machetes and shotguns to convince them to teach rather than strike.

The parents told a press conference that the dissident CNTE teachers’ union and its Oaxaca local, Section 22, have consistently violated the human rights of their children, affecting an alleged 53,969 by leaving them without classes.

They want the CNDH to guarantee the right to an education for the children of Oaxaca.

Despite there being mechanisms to punish teachers’ absenteeism, Cepse member Alfonso Soriano Lozano said no teachers have been laid off in Oaxaca. He believes there isn’t the political will to put a stop to Section 22’s recurrent strikes.

Cepse president Luisa García Cruz asked of the presidential candidates to avoid negotiating with the rights of the children and to recover an authority stance in their dealing with the union.

“The interests of the children have to be placed above anything else,” she said.

The teachers withdrew many of the blockades that created traffic chaos in the city of Oaxaca last week, but they continue to block access to the airport and the first-class bus terminal.

Source: Milenio (sp)