University crisis: teachers forced to leave their jobs because they cannot make ends meet

President Javier Milei announced that will veto the university financing law approved this week in the Senate. Faced with the crisis that universities are going through, from the UBA They warned that teachers are forced to leave their educational jobs and are not making ends meet.

The bill passed in the Senate proposes an increase in the budget and salary increases teachers, due to the inflation accumulated in August, and until the end of the year update the same by the index of all months. Regarding the problem, Valeria Levi, vice-rector of the University of Exact Sciences of the UBA explained: “The university system cannot be maintained with these “With such low salary levels, we are losing teachers all the time, we see it every day.”

University teachers against Javier Milei’s veto

Following the confirmation of the veto by the libertarian government, Levi detailed the current situation faced by university teachers.The university system cannot be maintained with such low salary levels, we are losing teachers all the time, we see it daily.“, said the vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Exact Sciences, and then added that the professionals “They don’t leave teaching because they are not interested” but because “can’t make ends meet”

The parliamentary initiative forced the Executive Branch to update the budget items for cover operating expenses, research and extension in universities. In addition, it also established a budget increase every two months, in line with inflation.

In turn, it establishes that you will have to update from the January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024in the form bimonthlythe amount of operating expenses of national universities for the Consumer Price Index reported by INDEC. As for teachers, the law sought to increase the monthly salaries salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff updated according to inflation.

“Teachers with lower categories, first assistant and simple They have lost 50% of their salaries during Milei’s government. The lowest categories are the ones that suffered the most, then with an inflation of 270%, Having lost such a large amount, it is very difficult to teach in this state.“Levi explained about the current crisis facing those who teach at public universities.

After Javier Milei himself announced that he would veto the law in its entirety, the National Federation of University Teachers (CONADU) issued an official statement in which they announced: ““If there is a veto, there is a march”. In this regard, Levi concluded: “We are convinced that without universities and without science we cannot have a promising future for the country.“.

The adjustment in universities is proportional to the reduction of Personal Assets

In the midst of the conflict between the Government and the university institutions, the UBA pointed out that the adjustment planned for the Updating university system resources It is equivalent to what is allocated for the laundering and benefit of the richest sectors of the country (0.14%).

The report was prepared by the Center for Studies for Argentine Recovery (RA Center) of the Faculty of Economic Sciences. The study highlighted that the fiscal effort is even greater than that applied to the derivative of the regime of industrial promotion of Tierra del Fuego (0.22%).

According to the data, the update of the set of operating expenses of both universities and hospitals, the update of science and technology funds and the salary recomposition of teachers and non-teaching staff would be equivalent to a fiscal effort of 0.14% of GDP. In this sense, the text strongly criticizes the fiscal policy carried out by the national government since, as detailed by the researchers, “the recent fiscal reform, for example, included a strong reduction both present and future of the wealth taxes that fall on those sectors with greater wealth in society. The modification of the non-taxable minimum and the corresponding rates to the personal property tax formula, This would result in a drop in public revenue perception of approximately 0.14% GDP points“.

So the text concludes that the Reduction in personal property fees represents the same amount of money adjusted in the university sector. “With these modifications and based on the latest tax data by category of taxable assets (year 2022) it is estimated that the drop in collection for personal assets would be approximately 25%, going from representing 0.52% of GDP to 0.38%,” indicates the text.

They point out: “Thus, the tax reduction for the wealthiest sectors of society would be equivalent to the same amount as the budgetary need projected by Congress.”