Lucas Palacios has enraged Chilean teachers claiming they are looking for arguments ‘not to work’, after plans were unveiled for schools to reopen amid the pandemic.

“It is striking: the only thing the Union of Teachers is looking for are arguments not to work (…) I believe it is a case worthy of study, people who have the calling to teach but all they want is not going to classes,” the Finance minister told T13 Tuesday morning.

Palacios also said that kids and teenagers need to go back to school, so parents can head back to work.

Palacios’ remarks were criticised almost immediately. In light of the controversy they sparked, he later took to Twitter to explain he only meant to single out union’s stance.

“The Government has prioritized the vaccination of teachers because they play a fundamental role in the country. In 2020, I witnessed how hundreds of thousands of teachers had to adapt to hardships and work overtime for students,” he wrote.

“I never intended to talk about all teachers, but to answer to the president of the Union of Teachers so that, instead of adding obstacles, he starts to propose solutions, thinking about students and reducing educational inequalities,” Palacios added.

Yesterday, the Government announced that the school year is set to start on 1 March, as planned, but the Union of Teachers opposed the Ministry of Education’s idea, and so did thousands of educators individually.

Even though the return was advertised as ‘voluntary’, education leaders have called to maintain virtual learning in place as a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19.

Nonetheless, just like in 2020, La Moneda is once again pushing hard to reopen schools while the pandemic is still out of control and the vaccination program has only reached 2.5 million people.

So far, 782,039 people have contracted the virus in Chile. 19,664 of them have died.