As Chilean school kids start winter vacation, they leave behind a semester marked by violence. Several high schools around Santiago were taken over by students; one was set on fire while hooded youths clashed with police and burned city buses.
For youngsters, that is now exacerbated, experts say, by pandemic-related behaviour issues. Although some signs of negative long-term effects of coronavirus lockdowns on children have been seen elsewhere, Chile seems to be particularly hard hit. Chile’s Education Superintendent reported a 56 per cent jump in violent incidents in the last semester compared to 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic, a surge that has troubled politicians, psychologists and teachers.
Chilean students’ history of protest goes back to mobilizations against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s. Students – including current President Gabriel Boric – led demonstrations to demand education reforms in 2006 and 2011, and in 2019 more widespread protests saw months of rioting, with metro stations and churches burned.