Pedro Aguirre Cerda

Pedro Aguirre Cerda graduated as a professor of Castellano from the Instituto Pedagógico in 1900. He taught classes in different high schools while studying law and gave free night classes to workers. He taught as a professor at the Army’s Escuela de Aplicación de Infantería and then taught civic education, Spanish, and philosophy at the Liceo Barros Borgoño. He also taught at the Instituto Nacional. After studying in Paris in 1910, he returned to teach at the University of Chile and became the first dean of its new school of economics.

Pedro Aguirre Cerda was a member of the Radical Party. He served in several ministerial posts, including the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Public Instruction. In 1938, he was elected president as the candidate of the Popular Front, a coalition of Radicals, Socialists, and Communists. His administration focused heavily on the development of education institutions, building over 500 new schools, hiring about 3,000 new teachers, and expanding technical, industrial, mining, and higher education. He also worked to improve teachers’ working conditions.

Aguirre Cerda's educational background was central to his political career, symbolized by his campaign slogan "Gobernar es educar" (To govern is to educate). He believed that raising the educational level of the country was vital for national progress. As president, he directly applied this philosophy by significantly expanding and improving Chile's educational infrastructure, teacher conditions, and promoting various forms of specialized education.

Reseña Biográfica Pedro Aguirre Cerda - Reseñas biográficas - Historia Política - Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile.” n.d. BCN. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_biograficas/wiki/Pedro_Aguirre_Cerda.

Cantero, Carlos. 2022. “Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chile Educación, Industrialización.” El Quinto Poder. https://elquintopoder.cl/ciudadania/pedro-aguirre-cerda-chile-educacion-industrializacion.