1999:
Hugo Chavez Banned Public School Fees and Doubled Government Spending on
Education
The
beginning of free public education in Venezuela came in 1870 when Antonio
Guzman Blanco issued a decree in which he recognized compulsory elementary mass
education as the responsibility of the government.[5] These ambitious
beginnings came to an abrupt end during the long dictatorship of Juan Vincente
Gomez and only 20% of school age children were enrolled in school at his death
in 1935.[6] The administration of Eleizar Lopez Contreras constituted a
repudiation of the policies of the government of Gomez. During its first year,
1936, the government increased the expenditures for primary education by 82 %. The school-age population enrolled rose from
20% to 41% by 1939.Education received a serious setback with the dictatorship of
Marcos Perez Jimenez and only 55% of children of school age were in school in
1955-56.[6]
With the
establishment of democratic governments beginning in 1958, education became a
priority. High oil prices facilitated a rapid expansion in the number of
schools, teachers and size of enrollment with primary enrollment rising by
30%.[5] However, a crash in oil prices and a debt crisis resulted in public
spending for education dropping to $118 per capita in 1996, which was 37% lower
than it was in 1990. Another indicator of the worsening situation of public
education was that even with a steadily increasing population, the number of
students attending public schools stayed almost exactly the same at 5.5 million
between 1992 and 1998.[1]
Venezuela’s
free public education system gradually excluded larger and larger numbers of
the poor, as the school system increased the barriers for poor people’s
participation. These barriers mostly took the form of registration fees, which
were set by each school individually, often to compensate for the lack of
resources it was receiving from the central government.[1] Education was only
available to the middle class and wealthy due to the annual fees.[4]
Hugo Chavez
was elected President of Venezuela in 1998 and was sworn in as President on
February 2, 1999. On February 5, 1999, Education Minister Hector Navarro
announced, on the order of President Chavez, that tuition fees would be
eliminated in public schools, high schools, and universities. [2]
When the
Chavez government came to power, spending on education was one of the areas the
government focused on the most. By 2001 it increased public spending on
education to 4.3% of GDP (or $220 per capita) twice the level of 1996. In 1998,
9% of the national budget was allocated to education. In 2008, 22% was spent on
education. Much of the new investment in education went toward the building of
new schools. Public school enrollment (primary and secondary) increased from
5.5 million in 1998 to 6.5 million in 2001- an increase of one million (18%) in
just three years.[1] For the school year2004/05 the elementary school
enrollment rate was practically at the maximum level at 99.0%. This represented
an increase of 10.5% relative to ten years earlier.
One of the
main reasons for the increase in school enrollment is directly attributable to
the Chavez government’s elimination of enrollment fees at public schools.[1][3]
1.
Wilpert,
Gregory, Changing Venezuela by Taking Power, Verso, 2007.
2.
AlbaCiudad,
16 years ago, tuition fees were eliminated in Venezuela, February 7, 2015
3.
New
York Times, Venezuelan Leader Broadens Focus on Reshaping Schools, May
7, 2001.
4.
Borgen
Magazine, Education in Venezuela is in Crisis, October 28, 2016.
5.
Haggerty,
Richard A., Venezuela: a country study, Library of Congress, 1993.
6.
Sanchez,
George, The Development of Education in Venezuela, Office of Education,
1963.
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