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Model
School Project Riddled with Problems in Venezuela
By Luis Cordova, Inter Press Service |
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 CARACAS,
Apr 4 (IPS) - Venezuela will showcase its 'Bolivarian' school
project -- a model for integrated education named after its
independence leader -- at the upcoming World Education Forum,
but even education officials admit there are problems. |
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Education Ministry representatives who visited some of the 558
'Bolivarian' schools in the country, said they encountered serious
problems like poor infrastructure which is hobbling efforts
to improve the terrible state of primary education. "They were
in much worse condition than we expected,'' they said. |
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| "One
of the problems is that we selected the schools by computer,''
admits Education Minister Hector Navarro who rues the fact that
the condition of schools was not physically verified beforehand. |
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As
a result, the 'Bolivarian' project, which was intended to
transform primary school education and lure children to classrooms,
has been burdened by the diversion of funds to improve the
infrastructure and train teachers instead.
|
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| Yet
the government in its country report prepared for the World
Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, between April 26 and 28,
says all primary schools are to be brought into the 'Bolivarian'
project by 2005. |
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| The
schools named after Venezuela's national hero, Simon Bolivar,
follow a full day's regimen -- from morning into the afternoon
-- including nutritional meals for students. Most schools here
follow a half-time schedule. |
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| An
assessment report prepared for the Dakar meeting says the 'Bolivarian'
strategy provides ''greater attention to the students'' in a
country where ''all reports, evaluations and indicators indicate
that education is truly a disaster.'' |
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The 'Bolivarian' school system seeks to encompass ''pedagogical,
scholastic, educational, nutritional, health and sports issues,''
says the document, which acknowledges the problems plaguing
the initiative. Take the dilapidated state of infrastructure.
Virgilio Armas, researcher at the Institute of Advanced Educational
Studies (IESA), believes it will take ''at least 11 years''
to upgrade Venezuela's schools to implement the 'Bolivarian'
strategy. |
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''The challenges of adapting the infrastructure for all primary
school students and of training teachers are huge and will require
at least 11 years of work, more than double the originally allotted
time,'' Armas says. |
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Rural schools need air-conditioning, according to the researcher.
Many of them have zinc-sheet roofs that quickly heat up the
classrooms in which students must spend all day, he said. Moreover,
Armas argues that it is essential to educate a new type of teacher
so extended school hours do not ''turn into a big playtime''
-- a problem other Latin American countries attempting to apply
the integral model have faced. |
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| Armas
was among speakers here at a meeting organised in mid-March
by IESA to discuss the experiences in educational reform among
Latin American countries. |
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| He
said the region should return to the extended school day system
if it is to ''get all children into the schools.'' All Latin
American countries abandoned the full school day in the 1960s
and 1970s, trying to raise enrollment. |
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| By
the end of the nineties, however, it was clear the system had
not worked, and some schools were functioning part-time. Now
government intervention has helped to push up school enrollment
in Venezuela to 6.1 million students, in 1999. Its network of
primary schools cover 92 percent of children, with the government
promising 100 percent coverage in 2001. |
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| 'We
are committed to education,'' said Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, who has been the principal champion of the integral
schools initiative. |
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| In
fact in September last year, when the Venezuelan school year
began and the 'Bolivarian' schools were still not ready to admit
students, the president went on record to say the work would
be speeded up to enable children to soon join school. |
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| However,
the 558 schools under the project were of uneven quality, according
to evidence presented at the IESA forum. Local press reports
have pointed to wide disparities in their functioning. For instance
the programme to serve hot meals to students works well only
in some 'Bolivarian' schools. |
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Media reports also indicate that some school buildings are in
such a state of neglect that they are beyond repair. Yet, despite
the project's questionable record, the government is pushing
ahead with plans to meet its goal of 1,500 new 'Bolivarian'
schools by the end of the year. |
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This, it claims, will put the country on track to meeting its
mid-decade goal of achieving integral primary education for
all Venezuelan children. According to Navarro, the country's
education minister, Venezuela will need to invest some 4.5 billion
dollars in order to reach that goal. |
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| This
article is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced
provided that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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