Jo Williams
Since its election in 1998, the Venezuelan government led by Hugo Chavez has implemented a range of mass social programs aimed at eradicating widespread poverty, and at reversing the systematic social exclusion of millions of Venezuelans.
Known as "missions", these programs have included a mass literacy and primary school completion campaign known as Mission Robinson, a drive to expand high school graduation known as Mission Ribas, and the expansion of access to higher education through Mission Sucre.
In the 1999 constitution, adopted by popular vote, education was codified as a basic human right. Before that, access to education was very different for the poor than for the rich and middle classes.
Since the late 1980s, a wave of neoliberalism led to gradual privatisation of Venezuela's already limited public education system, and added new fees to basic education, driving more poor people out of the system. A November 11 report by Gregory Wilpert, posted on Venezuela Analysis, explains that roughly 17% of Venezuela's children were excluded from the education system by the late 1990s, either because they couldn't afford to attend, or because they lived in an area with no schools. Ten years ago, illiteracy was officially 9%, or roughly 2 million people, primarily in rural and indigenous communities and among poor inner-city families. In reality it is likely to have been much higher. It was almost 60% amongst indigenous people.
The missions have been implemented quickly, and on a huge scale, with a consequently large deployment of resources. They have involved new infrastructure as well as the reform of elitist educational institutions. According to Wilpert, under the Chavez government, the number of children attending schools increased by roughly 1.5 million between 1999 and 2002. Although figures vary, under Chavez at least 3000 schools have been either built or transformed into "Bolivarian schools", which offer three meals a day, staff dentists and doctors, recreational facilities and free transport to and from the urban slum areas. The Bolivarian schools are free, but access is restricted to those most in need.
The primary aim of the Bolivarian schools is to get children into schools quickly. This strategy was partly motivated by the entrenched bureaucratic culture of the existing public schools.
The bulk of education administration in Venezuela remains in the hands of Chavez's opponents, and there have been reports that the missions and Bolivarian schools have been victims of a range of sabotage attempts, including teachers refusing to teach at the schools and administrators refusing to open Bolivarian schools. The small stipends that the roughly 100,000 volunteer teachers, largely university students, depend on have often been delayed at the hands of the education bureaucracy.
Of the four new universities — six more are planned by 2006 — perhaps the most interesting is La Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, or UBV. Like the Bolivarian schools, the UBV offers a curriculum founded on the values of the constitution. Instead of traditionally segregated faculties, it offers interdisciplinary programs with an emphasis on developing all-rounded students, with professional skills and a sense of social responsibility. The university offers a large number of places, aiming to offer education to all, rather than an elite.
The UBV also aims to integrate practice and theory and foster "horizontal" rather than "vertical" student-teacher relationships. The political, ethical and equity education is given much more meaning than in most liberal educational institutions by the emphasis that is placed upon campus democracy. Senior administrative staff have been kept to a minimum, with many decisions taken by a range of elected staff-student committees and councils.
Furthering the "education for all" ethos is the University for All program at the UBV, through which the university offers free programs, forums, talks and courses to the community. There are also provisions for people to attend courses without enrolling.
The Chavez government has also established 240 info-centres, offering free public internet access, primarily in urban slums, remote and other poorly resourced areas. A range of education programs have been setup to target indigenous people.
In an October 20 Venezuela Analysis article, Wilpert reports that social spending will constitute 40.5% of the overall 2005 government budget. Seven-hundred new Bolivarian schools will be built, 400,000 new places provided as part of Mission Sucre, and 80,000 more subsidies for students in Mission Ribas.
The opposition has attacked the missions as a "vote-buying" exercise. It has also claimed that the involvement of Cuban educators is contributing to the "indoctrination" of the Venezuelan people. In a June 14 New York Times article by Carol Williams, national director of Mission Robinson Omar Calzadilla dismissed such claims, while pointing out that it was true that once people's basic needs were met, they were more likely to vote.
In a November 11, 2003, article in the Militant, Ana Bolivar, a 49-year-old worker learning to read and write for the first time through Mission Robinson, said, "We are learning to read and write for the first time because the opposition never allowed us to before. They accuse us of being armed, but the only weapons we have are our pencils."
She was highlighting a key role of the education process: to empower the Venezuelan people to participate in the remaking of their society. The Venezuelan government, and its people, are acutely aware that education is a tool for liberation, and these programs are crucial to the success of the Bolivarian revolution.
In January 2003, after it had been closed for three weeks by an anti-Chavez strike, the parents and students of the Juan Bautista Alberdi school decided to re-open it. A November 30 article by El Militante's Carlos Feo described how the doors were forced open, facilities cleaned and repaired and classes resumed under the coordination of the "Committee in Defence of the Children of the School Alberdi".
When the teaching staff attempted to return, the parents, students and volunteers refused to hand it back. Feo explained that "today, this school has become the centre of organised development of the community". This is just one example of the ways that ordinary Venezuelans are taking control of their education, and remaking their country.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, December 8, 2004.
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