Venezuela, an economic report / Presented by students of the School of Foreign Service, as an aid to the foreign trade of the United States

by Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Education in Venezuela is free, and in the six primary grades is compulsory, the schools from the ages of 7 to 14 years being maintained by the National Government, State, or Municipality, the Department of Education being under the direct supervision of the Minister of Public Instruction, with subordinate officials forming a board. In 1908 Mr. Guillermo Todd, a distinguished Venezuelan educator, was sent to the United States, where he spent two years in the larger cities inspecting the school system, the normal schools and universities. On his return he was appointed superintendent of schools, and reorganized the system, introducing many American ideas and methods which largely prevail to-day.

The maintenance of the educational system depends upon the receipts from stamps, from post-cards and letters, from fines collected from violators of the instruction laws; from taxes upon inheritances, imposts upon tobacco leaves and manufactures, and from the proceeds of the revenue stamps placed upon boxes of cigars.

During the school year of 1919 there were founded two primary schools with three teachers each, two with two teachers and nine schools with one teacher. Two schools were suspended and eleven changed into co-educational with one teacher, while thirteen schools changed their location. Heretofore education has followed the population only. Outside the cities, towns and large cities near the coast there were scant educational facilities, and the rural population was to a large extent uninstructed, there being no schools nor teachers. During 1917 a movement was inaugurated to establish rural schools in all industrial districts, and migratory schools of this kind are now in operation in Frujillo, in Mario El Cantado and Caracas, the states and municipalities have taken the matter in hand. On September 19, 1919, a decree was passed by the National Government to offer a bonus in the form of wages, of from 100 to 200 bolivares ($20.00 to $40.00) to competent persons possessing a certificate of primary elemental instruction, who would enroll and teach children below fourteen years of age the rudiments of education in localities of small population where there were no public schools nor teachers. The bonus to be received varied according to the number of pupils enrolled; many small classes are now in operation throughout the rural districts.

The Obligatory Instruction Law compelling children from 7 to 14 years of age to attend class has been rigidly enforced by Government decree during 1919; a list of offending parents is compiled and they are visited by educational officers, and fined if found guilty of not sending their children to school. By an order of June 20, 1919, English is to be henceforth taught in all primary schools, in view of its present importance as a commercial language. On September 1, 1919, appropriation being made, two new Manual Training Schools were founded, one at Mérida, the other at San Cristobal. Physical training is now considered an important part of the training, and at least a half-hour a day is spent in calisthenics and gymnastic training. In 1918 the Boy Scouts movement was proposed, and introduced into the schools of Maracaibo, where under the supervision of Mr. W. Douglas it has been intertwined with the courses of the public educational institutions. This movement is now receiving national prominence, and gained favorable commendation in the Memoria de Instrucción Pública (1918).

According to the latest data, there are approximately 1,500 primary schools in Venezuela with 50,000 pupils enrolled, but the system is laboring under the difficulty of a lack of teachers, due to inadequate compensation. The children attend school six days a week, but on Saturday have class in the morning only. The curriculum consists of a daily lecture or assembly, elements of the Spanish language, arithmetic, the legal system of weights and measures, rudiments of etiquette and hygiene, moral and civic instruction, gymnastic exercises or national songs, and elements of manual training. The afternoon classes embrace writing, geography, history, topics of the day and gymnastic exercises.

The Secondary Education of Venezuela is not as generally widespread, in proportion, as primary education. There are 102 schools of this class corresponding to high schools in the United States; 58 are for boys, 38 for girls, and 4 are co-educational. Some are grouped into Federal Colleges and Normal Schools annexed to Federal Schools in Caracas and Valencia.

Caracas is nominally the center of education in Venezuela. Here are found two normal schools, one for men and one for women, and two national schools of arts and trades, one for each sex. In 1917 Schools of Commerce were instituted at Caracas, Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, Curúpano and Ciudad Bolívar. These are similar to our own commercial schools, teaching languages, bookkeeping, stenography, accounting and the like. Besides, there are found throughout the country thirty-four schools of higher instruction, and twenty-one subsidized by the Government.

One institution, founded June 30, 1919, may be interesting to note, viz, the National Telegraph School of Caracas in which the first pupils were enrolled from July 1 to 7, 1919. The school is situated in the Federal Telephone and Telegraph Building.

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