Venezuelan People's Power Minister of Education Adán Chávez, brother of President Hugo Chávez, Wednesday said the new curriculum to be introduced in Venezuela will be open to diverse ideological currents, and that his office is willing to launch talks with opposition sectors to debate the reform of the laws governing education in the country.

The official added that changes are intended to match the new situation facing the country. "We should not be afraid of this. It is not that we are going to inject communism into children since they are born. It is just including in the required course of study, from primary education through the university level, the true values of a society, to educate on what socialism is, i.e. socialism comes from collectivity, living in community, living on equal grounds," he told En Confianza TV show on the official  TV station VTV.

Amidst fears that the socialist doctrine is to be imposed, Chávez said the new curriculum is to include the concepts of capitalism, Christianity, socialism and fascism, among others.

He claimed that the real socialist formation involves "analysis and debate" of the contents, both in classrooms and outside. "Everybody makes his own decisions."

He rejected the use of education as a means for social promotion. "This is the core of individualism and selfishness. These are the values, among so many other anti-values this capitalist bourgeois system we had for years has disseminated. We need to explain this to the population. Education is for everybody, i.e. social promotion should be available to everyone. In this sense, the values we have to promote and include in our curriculum are unity, solidarity, which are opposed to selfishness and individualism."