Chilean Senate ousts education minister over subsidies to private schools

SANTIAGO, Chile: Chilean lawmakers ousted the country's education minister on Wednesday for failing to prevent a scandal involving subsidies to private schools that overstated enrollment.

The Senate's vote also bars Education Minister and teacher Yasna Provoste from public office for five years.

Appointed by President Michelle Bachelet in July 2006, Provoste is the first cabinet-level minister to be dismissed by lawmakers since the restoration of democracy in 1990 after a 17-year dictatorship.

The Provoste is not accused of any personal wrongdoing, but opposition legislators said she should be held accountable for the alleged mishandling of millions of dollars (euros) of government funds allocated to private schools.

An investigation by the General Comptroller's office showed that steep subsidies were paid to schools that overstated the number of their students. The probe, still in progress, involves some US$580 million (€360 million).

Bachelet's administration and pro-government lawmakers called the ouster politically motivated, and said the irregularities were merely accounting mistakes that are being clarified.

"A monumental injustice has been committed," presidential spokesman Francisco Vidal said.

But opposition Sen. Jovino Novoa said Provoste "was informed of the serious situation that was occurring in her ministry and failed for several months to take action that she, as minister, was obligated to take."

Provoste, 38, claimed she was being persecuted for being "small, dark-skinned, middle-class and indigenous." She is a descendant of Aymara Indians.