Zero Tuition– An Achievement Behind the Wrongly-Vandalism Students

Various social studies reveal that it could take a low-income family in Colombia up to ten generations to escape multidimensional poverty. Although Colombia has made some progress, it is not enough to break the cycle of structural inequality passed down from generation to generation.
Despite external interests seeking to destabilize and delegitimize public higher education through infiltration and stigmatization, it plays a crucial role. The aim is to generate public opposition and render it unviable.
Public universities provide an opportunity for young people and adults to fulfill their dreams, expand their opportunities, and transform their lives. They offer a chance to break the cycle of inequality and contribute to the country’s transformation. For years, many of us –particularly students– have mobilized to secure funding and achieve access to public higher education through tuition-free enrollment.

Funding is a reality. So is the expansion of coverage. There’s also the policy of free tuition, known as “Zero Tuition.” Society should support those who have been labeled vandals and criminals because, thanks to their drive, joy, and disruptive creativity, nearly one million public university students are now benefiting from this historic achievement, which has reached 97 percent coverage. It’s important to note that the outgoing government prioritized education. For many young people and adults, this is the first generation in their family to pursue a professional career.
Between 2017 and 2019, large-scale university mobilizations strongly challenged demand-subsidizing programs such as Ser Pilo Paga and, later, Generación E. Public universities argued that these models were underfunded and exacerbated the structural crisis of public higher education institutions.
Zero Tuition is a historic achievement. Its enactment was an important step toward ensuring the right to higher education, and it is, above all, a victory forged in universities and on streets. This measure is the result of years of mobilization and days of protest, as well as the serious hardships endured by students who suffered repression. For young people and adults alike, Zero Tuition proves that collective organization in defense of rights and the common good is possible.

One of the major challenges in Colombia is ensuring free, universal, and adequately funded public higher education, implementing the new Ten-Year Education Plan, and making progress on a General Education Law that establishes education as a driving force to curb hatred, violence, individualism, and war. This law would give concrete substance to building peace, which is ultimately the realization of all rights.