 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela | ||
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May 25, 2008 | ||
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In 2000, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, promised to guarantee access to education to 600,000 children.
This promise was exceeded. During the administration of the Bolivarian Government this figure has gone up (over two million students have accessed education); and a high quality educative system has been consolidated. According to the statistics provided by the Venezuelan Education Ministry, the registration grew up from 5,800.000 students (1996-1997) to 11,800.000 (2006-2007), including the students who study in the different educative social programs. In addition, according to the recent report issued by the Education Ministry, the national coverage went from 85.5 per cent - based on children aged six-seven in 96-97 – to 96.3 per cent in 2006-2007. One of the most difficult problems Venezuela experienced before the arrival of the Bolivarian Government was the deterioration of the public educative system and the exclusion of the population from formal education. This is why some proposals were presented in order to offer a better education to Venezuelans. In this sense, some educative missions were created: Missions Robinson, Ribas, Sucre; whose main purpose is to eradicate exclusion and guarantee the inclusion to the education system. The methodology of these social programs faces these problems in different stages Mission Robinson: literacy teaching; Mission Robinson II and Mission Ribas: secondary school and Mission Sucre: higher education and master degrees. Mission Robinson taught 1.5 million people how to read and write; and in October 2005, Venezuela was officially declared by UNESCO as an illiteracy-free territory. All these achievements have gone beyond the borders and favored the creation of Mission Robinson International, which has reached Bolivia and Nicaragua, where thousand people have been taught to read and write. Education since childhood Among the achievements on education, we can mention the one developed by the sub system of early education through the assistance offered by the Early Childhood Education Centers (CEI Spanish acronym) called Simoncitos. These centers recognize children as social beings who develop and learn together with their family and community. The Simoncitos offer the children the first tools for their early education process and stimulate their physic and intellectual abilities; as well as guidance for mothers since the gestation process up to the incorporation of children in the basic level. There are around 1,000 Early Childhood Education Centers, with the necessary tools in order to guarantee a high quality education during the first years of students. “It’s just an evidence we are reinforcing this field, even if we are certain that there is still a lot to do,” the former ministry Adán Chávez said. Integral assistance The strategies developed by the Education Ministry includes several modalities: the School Food Plan (PAE Spanish acronym), which makes part of the improvement policies of the school services and offer daily food to students around the country. This program experienced a substantial increase in 2007, since it benefited over four million students. The idea is to keep on growing and reach five million students who benefit from PAE’s food service. The Bolivarian government makes important efforts regarding education in order to guarantee high quality education to the people who have historically been excluded. Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) | ||
