GUSTAVO MÉNDEZ
EL UNIVERSAL

In Venezuela, "the ideological system of bourgeois education is being overcome as part of the nation's recreation," Minister of Education Adán Chávez noted when taking the floor as key speaker at the 2007 Teaching Congress opening in Havana on Tuesday.

By the same token, he listed among the Venezuelan government new challenges, "deepening revolution with a truly social character." "We are responsible for building the 21st Century Socialism," he added.

In Chávez' view, capitalist education should be replaced with a socialist education, which is requisite and necessary for a new man, as heralded by Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

"No revolution is possible in the absence of revolutionary ideology and political awareness," he reasoned, as quoted by Prensa Latina.

Over 5,500 delegates from 52 countries are attending the 2007 Teaching Congress under the motto "A meeting for teachers' unity."

Minister Chávez pointed to the educational predicament in Venezuela, as he thinks that State responsibilities were neglected and "the true substance of education went to pieces."

When listing the progress made in the field, he stated, "in the past, only 2.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was used for the sector, despite overwhelming oil revenues."

It should be noted, however, that based on the numbers provided by the Pooled System of Venezuela's Social Indicators (Sisov), 4.9 percent of GDP has been the largest portion ever used for education.

The senior official complained about the practice of privatizing schools and increasing costs of tuition and fees in public schools.

Thank you, Cuba
During his speech, Minister Chávez noted that the Venezuelan government has started to reverse the aforementioned situation. A total of 23 schools for indigenous peoples, 50 special education schools, 44 Bolivarian high schools and 4,132 Bolivarian elementary schools were built in 2006.

The official pointed also to the operations of 515 technical schools, 600 information technology educational centers, 205 kindergartens and 14 technological sites for teaching support.

He thanked Cuba for taking an active part in a literacy campaign that benefited 1.5 million people. Out of this number, he added, 327,816 people completed the sixth grade and 418,170 got a high-school degree.

Chávez stressed that almost 25,000 new teachers will join the new school year.

Translated by Conchita Delgado

Gustavo Mendez
EL UNIVERSAL