How Chile’s Students Brought Education Reforms | What Can CJP Learn?
August 8, 2026
Cockroach Janta Party decided to remain a pressure group and not form a political party. But there is one student movement in the world which led to educational reforms in the country. What can India's student movements learn from Chile’s student protest of 2011? In 2011, thousands of students across Chile took to the streets demanding major reforms in the country's education system. What started as a student protest grew into a massive national movement, forcing education to become a central political issue.
The students demanded affordable education, greater public investment, better funding for public institutions and an end to profit-making in higher education. The government initially responded with police action, but as the movement continued, it eventually opened negotiations and introduced several policy measures. The movement also produced a new generation of political leaders.
One of its prominent student leaders, Gabriel Boric, went on to become Chile's President in 2021 at the age of 35. So, what can India learn from Chile's student movement? And what can the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) learn from the way Chile's students organised, sustained their movement and pushed education reform into the national conversation?
In this video, we look at the 2011 Chilean student movement, its demands, the government's response, the reforms that followed, and its political legacy—and ask whether there are lessons for India's ongoing student movements.