2024-02-17 02:55:00
Among the numerous groups that are putting together protests Against the government’s policies are not only the artists who support Lali, but also important groups of scientists. This week there were events of protest of scholarship holders, teachers and researchers in CABA, compared to the former Ministry of Science and Technology. And also in other administrative offices of Conicet in Rosario, La Plata and Córdoba, under the slogan: “without scholarships there is no science.”
The protest took place on the same day that the first meeting of the year of the Conicet board took place.
The focus of the dispute is onreco According to a statement issued by the Federal Table for Science and Technology, an organization that brings together a dozen NGOs on scientific policy, “we are getting closer to a risk of “scienticide,” understood as the systematic destruction of science. and Argentine technology”.
“There is an intention to empty the Conicet”
Specifically, the dispute over the budget covers several points but the central one has to do with the doctoral scholarships.
After the board meeting, in which the current president of Conicet, Dr. Daniel Salamone, participated, “the government will fully attend to the 300 “Doctoral Completion” scholarships in accordance with the provisions of the call, from 1/ 4/2024. On the other hand, there was talk of a strong reduction in the number of doctoral scholarships. That is, the first step of the career. According to Salamone before the governing body of Conicet, “in the first instance, 600 scholarships with a date starting on 8/1/2024”.
This figure is much lower than the number of scholarships awarded in previous years, which used to double and even triple the current number. Specifically, for this year, applications had been opened for 1,600 scholarships for graduates whose research projects should begin in April 2024. This is the number that, for now, has fallen to 600 scholarship recipients whose order of merit will be revealed in the coming years. days.
How Daniel Salamone, the new president of Conicet, thinks
Added to this situation are other conflicts in the sector. According to Jorge Geffner, principal researcher at Conicet, “there have been 49 dismissals of administrative personnel from the former Ministry. And promotions in the researcher career have been frozen. There are also zero pesos allocated to the operation of the institutes, which will lead to , in weeks, they will not be able to open because they cannot pay the electricity to maintain the refrigerators and equipment.
Something like that declared Dr. Valeria Levi, vice dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the UBA who highlighted that “what is happening now is something unprecedented. No government suspended the scholarship system. And it is not a significant figure for the budget.” In fact, during the protest, which brought together more than 500 people in Caba, it was made clear that the government’s decision is more political than economic since Conicet scholarships represent only 0.008% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What’s more, the budget invested in science in Argentina is around 0.5% of GDP while developed countries, including the recently visited Israel, are around 3% of GDP.
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