which would also include university students, teachers and workers. Minister Zilic met with the students again at the Recoleta Domínica, an old church in Santiago. After seven hours of negotiations the students declared that they had not received new offers and that their call for a general strike would continue. Zilic declared the unwillingness of the government to negotiate under such pressure. In the evening of June 1 president Bachelet addressed the nation by radio and television to announce new non-negotiable measures on education: Reorganization of the Ministry of Education, creating a separate regulatory institution to allow for independent supervision by a superintendence. Establishment of an Assistant Presidential Council on Education with the task of proposing measures to improve the quality of education. Reform of the LOCE and the Constitution, consecrating not only the freedom of education, but also the right to quality education as well as outlawing any unjustified discrimination of students by institutions. This measure is intended to prohibit the present practice of many schools of selecting the best students and blocking or expelling the worst ones. Benefits for half a million new students in free lunches and meals in 2006, to be extended to 770,000 by 2007. Extensive investment in infrastructure in 520 schools and the replacement of school furniture in 1,200. Free Transport Pass (Pase Escolar) for the most needy students, as well as extending use to seven days a week, twenty four hours a day for all students. Free PSU for 150,000 students, equivalent to 80% of annual applicants. Bachelet also referred specifically to the government's incapacity to deliver free transport fare to all students, due to prohibitively high costs (166 billion Chilean pesos annually, US$300 million), which she equated to the funding of 33,000 new social houses, the whole cost of the health system or the creation of seventeen new fully equipped hospitals. Nevertheless, she did announce a 25% rise in family benefits for 2007 that would affect 968,000 beneficiaries. The following day, the economic proposals were detailed by the Finance Minister Andrés Velasco who announced that the total cost of the measures would reach 60 million dollars in 2006 and 138 million dollars per year from 2007 onwards. The students met to analyze the president's proposal at the Instituto Superior de Comercio (Insuco) on June 2. After a long meeting of more than eight hours, the ACES met with the Education minister. Close