Paraguay teachers consider joining medical strike and denounce 2027 budget cuts

Paraguay’s OTEP-A teachers’ union is weighing whether to join medical workers’ mobilizations, as both sectors challenge the government over funding and pay.

The union is demanding an 8% salary increase for educators in 2027, split into a 5% rise in January and 3% in August. It says the government’s proposed budget offers an adjustment of only 2.4% and would cut education funding by $41 million.

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Education for 2027, its proposal has 41 million dollars less. In other words, we currently have a budget of 10.4 trillion. Next year we will have 10.1 trillion.

Gabriel Espínola, OTEP-A’s secretary general, said the education budget would fall from 10.4 trillion guaraníes this year to 10.1 trillion next year. He attributed the reduction to changes in how education funds are allocated, including the redirection of money from the Fund for Excellence in Education and Research to the Hambre Cero programme.

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So far, not a single psychologist has been hired.

Espínola warned that the early-childhood programme currently lacked funding. He said the programme plays an important role in bringing young children into the education system and integrating them into the school calendar and grades.

He also pointed to a gap between budget allocations and actual spending. Although 75 billion guaraníes was budgeted this year to hire specialists in inclusive education, he said no psychologist had been hired so far. Because approval does not guarantee access to funds, schools are currently operating without teachers or qualified instructors in some cases, including where staff have retired or enrolment has grown.

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In Paraguay, approval of the budget does not guarantee availability, so it depends on revenue, and revenue in turn depends on the cash plan.