Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s current centre-right president, wants to avoid that. He has introduced two bills that would partially undo Ms Bachelet’s reforms. The first would allow some 300 high-achieving schools, including the emblematics, to select pupils on academic merit. Of those, half would have to come from hard-up families. The measure would apply to 10% of high schools. A second bill would allow all other non-private schools to choose 30% of pupils to suit their educational programmes, which may include goals other than academic achievement. This “fair admission” policy will reward merit and hard work, the government claims.
Academic elitism is a fraught subject in Chile. The school system is stratified. Graduates of the poshest schools, like The Grange, are as visible at the top of society as are Old Etonians in Britain. Two-thirds of private-school students who sit the university entrance exam get into one of the main universities. But just a third of those from state-supported independent schools, for which parents usually pay top-up fees, make the grade. For state-school students the success rate is just a fifth. In 2016, 18% of students admitted to the two best universities—Chile and Católica—came from state schools, which have 37% of enrolment. Of these, over half came from 19 emblematic schools. Run by local governments, they have been the main non-fee-paying route to good universities