After almost two weeks have passed since the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, anguish grows in the teachers’ union due to the low number of students in the classrooms. And this is a common reality in many regions of Venezuela.
María Eugenia Díaz / JavierGuaipo / Dexcy Guédez / Rosimar Sánchez / Lexzys Lugo / Correspondent lapatilla.com
Coordination and editing: Thairy Baute
According to the NGO “FundaRedes Education Observatory”, in border states such as Apure, Táchira, Bolívar, Falcón, Zulia and Amazonas, school desertion is alarming: it reaches 60% of student enrollment. This organization explains that one of the reasons for this serious situation is the complex humanitarian crisis in which the country is still submerged.
Lapatilla.com with its team of correspondents delved deep into Venezuela to find out what other reasons are influencing children and adolescents to be forced to abandon their studies.
Apure: Students At Risk Of Being Part Of Criminal Groups
Of every 10 children and adolescents between 11 and 14 years of age from the rural areas of Apure State, at least five have dropped out of school to enter the labor market working during the planting season, and thus becoming the breadwinner of their households, due to the difficult economic situation in the country.
Ledys Ramos, President of the Union of Education Workers (Sindite-Apure), stated that now students work in the streets to bring food to their homes, instead of attending the existing schools in the seven municipalities of the State.
“They don’t see school as a way to get ahead in life. They consider that they should work once they turn 12 or 13 years old, especially those children who live in poor areas, because they need to earn their own money to gain better living conditions, because it is no secret to anyone that adults and young people have been forced to emigrate,” added the trade unionist.
In San Fernando, capital of Apure State, you can see children, the dropouts of the educational system, hanging around the municipal market, dedicated to selling sweets, onions and, in the worst cases, mired in begging. They are also seen on the boulevard and in public squares. When asked about their parents, the little ones assure that they are at home. Some go out to work with the consent of their representatives, others do it on their own to earn their daily bread.
For the trade unionist Ramos, due to this harsh reality, children from Apure are at risk of becoming part of criminal groups as a result of the environment in which they are growing up.
Another cause of school dropout in Apure is the pendular mobility of students towards the border with Colombia. Although the children live in Venezuelan territory, they study in cross border towns and return home at the end of the day.
Carabobo: Failures in the PAE and migration trigger student desertion
Zaida Silva, President of the Teachers’ Association in Carabobo, pointed out that it is increasingly common for primary school children and high school youth to leave the classroom to dedicate themselves to the informal economy.
“They have dropped out of education because they have gone on to wash cars, to do any job to help support the family. The worst thing that can happen is a youngster of school age working and not attending to its school needs (…) This happens in rural and non-rural areas. We see boys at the traffic lights from 8 to 11 years old begging and not attending school,” said Silva.
Other reasons that affect the decrease in enrollment are the failures in the School Feeding Program (PAE) and the migration of representatives and students to other countries.
“They are saying that education is free, but a single representative with only one child spends 70 dollars a week to be able to take her child to classes, because there is no longer food or canteens in schools. There is no breakfast as it should be, there is no balanced nutrition in educational institutions,” denounced the president of the transitory union board of the Venezuelan Union of Teachers in Carabobo, Luis Guillermo Padrón.
But the classrooms are not only empty due to lack of students, but also the teachers have put aside their vocation to teach to dedicate themselves to other jobs that generate higher incomes.
The deficit of teachers in Carabobo is approximately 60%, according to calculations by the College of Teachers of the state. Silva reported that two years ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the lack of teachers was more pronounced in the subjects of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, English and Biology. However, this has now been extended to the area of Social Sciences.
Failure to comply with benefits established in collective contracts and low salaries are some of the reasons that influence the teacher deficit. He explained that a primary education teacher, without a postgraduate degree, earns around 260 bolívares per month, while professionals who have years of service and a master’s degree earn 1.200 bolívares a month.
Nueva Esparta: Students without shoes or uniforms to start the school year
Two weeks before the start of classes, the absence of students in public schools in the island state reigns supreme. According to Jesús Quijada, general secretary of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (FVM) Nueva Esparta, it is estimated that student desertion reached 60% of enrollment.
He mentioned that it is worrying that there is still no balance of the final enrollment for the year 2021-2022, much less the size of the initial enrollment for the year 2022-2023.
Quijada reported that more than 80% of the public schools received the students in precarious conditions, without water or electricity, since during the vacations the incursions of thieves were accentuated.
The director of a campus dependent on the Ministry for Education asserted that many representatives requested to reserve the enrollment spot until January of next year. “The reason is none other than that they don’t have uniforms or shoes to start the year and they prefer to wait for the December bonuses to be able to return to the classroom next year.”
The situation of the teachers of public schools in Nueva Esparta worsened since Maduro’s regime transferred the payrolls of all public employees to the Patria System, through instructions “invented” by the National Budget Office.
Alcides Salazar, President of the Nueva Esparta Teachers College, rejected this measure because this is the reason the benefits have decreased by 50%, since the measure affects the bonuses they enjoyed and reduces their monthly income.
He revealed that the miserable salaries make it difficult for them to buy clothes and shoes to go and give their classes. “Most of us resort to clothes and shoes left by children and relatives who emigrated from the country to dress ourselves,” he remarked.
He assured us that they are at a crossroads, because to buy new clothes or shoes they must sacrifice food and medicine. There another sad reality arises, because they lose weight and also the option to use their own clothes.
For Quijada, the deficit and the migration of teachers go hand in hand. “In the period that just ended, the teacher deficit exceeded 25% and with 80% of public schools destroyed, it will be impossible to reduce the lack of personnel.”
“There will be fewer educators ready to start the new school year and fewer sections for the few students who will start classes,” she emphasized.
Anzoátegui: Representatives without resources to buy school supplies
One of the great unknowns that exist in the eastern state is the number of teachers and students that will be present in the classrooms in the 2022-2023 school year.
According to Maira Marín, president of the Venezuelan Union of Teachers (Sinvema) in the region, there was a conspicuous absence of students throughout last year. “We must bear in mind that certain restrictions were maintained due to the pandemic. However, many parents do not have the resources to buy supplies or uniforms for their children, and that also has an influence.”
Marín noted that the conditions of the vast majority of schools in Anzoátegui also have weight in the desertion of teachers and students. “There are schools that lack such basic things as water, electricity or security, and that also discourages attendance.”
As for the deficit of teachers, the unionist specified that it reaches 62%. “We had more than 27,000 educators and around 15,000 are no longer there for different reasons. This is awful, but the most worrying thing is how the education authorities plan to solve this deficit”.
The unionist highlighted that this lack of personnel was caused by the Chavista regime, since many teachers have been forced to abandon their work to dedicate themselves to other trades that generate better income to survive.
“Some decided to leave the country and others simply stopped attending the schools, because the salary did not even cover the bus fare. In short, the teaching profession is not economically attractive for anyone and that is why we have these dropout numbers.”
Bolívar: Teachers leave schools to go to the gold mines
The College of Teachers of this state in southern Venezuela warned about the high percentage of school dropouts, but did not detail a specific figure. “We know that there are children whose parents cannot afford to buy a uniform, a notebook or a pencil. The consequence of this is that children go to traffic lights to clean windows, ask for money and expose themselves to the dangers of the street,” said Aída González, General Secretary of the aforementioned organization.
On the other hand, she specified that in the 1,368 public schools of Bolívar there is a desertion of educators that reaches 60%. She said that teachers abandon their positions due to low salaries and the precarious conditions in educational institutions.
“Teachers prefer to go into informal trade, to the mines or a private institution, which today is paying between 80 dollars and 100 dollars a month,” said González.
In El Callao a gram of gold is equivalent to 40 dollars, much more than what a teacher earns in a public school in Venezuela. However, the offer to work in the Orinoco Mining Arc is as profitable as it is dangerous.
The mineral exploitation areas are taken over by local armed groups and guerrillas, and there is also the risk of some of the huge underground galleries collapsing or contracting malaria.
“I have thought about going to the mines, what happens is that the first thing I say is who is going to take care of my children,” said Maritza Oropeza, a 36-year-old teacher who works in a public school. What she receives as a salary is not enough to cover her basic needs and that is why she works reselling products in the San Félix Municipal Market.
“Here I can make up to 10 dollars a day. I’m never going to earn that at school. It hurts me a lot, because I love my career, but I need the income. The truth is, I don’t think I’m going to go back to school,” she said.
Zulia: Parents depressed for not being able to provide education to their children
In Zulia State school desertion is distressing. According to the report of the “Zuliano Unified Teachers’ Union” (Suma), school enrollment for this school year fell by 80%, a figure never before recorded in the contemporary history of Venezuela.
Gualbero Más y Rubi, President of Suma, said that formal public education is disappearing. He also noted that the reasons for the drop in enrollment are clear and precise.
Parents do not have the resources to enroll and cover the operating expenses of a child in classes, much less an adolescent. He stressed that young people between 12 and 17 years of age are not studying.
“Sadly, teenagers don’t go to high school because they go out to work. They do it to eat, help at home and to have access to some enjoyment. This is very alarming and worrying. How are we going to have a future in this country if we are not educating,” she said.
Mas and Rubí said that the conditions of the schools and high schools are extremely poor: in many there is no electrical wiring or desks, they lack even blackboards and the water service failed. There are no conditions for students to have a pleasant environment.
“Governor Rosales has the will and enthusiasm, but he received some classrooms on the ground, with nothing. The outgoing Education authorities, the national blackout and the pandemic ended, without exaggeration, with around 78% of the schools and high schools in the region.
Psychologist Nelly Díaz asserted that parents have fallen into depression, because they cannot give their children the right to study. “One in ten people suffer from this pathology.”
Another issue that alarms the Zulia teachers is the desertion of educators due to low wages. In the subjects of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English there are no teachers.
The teacher deficit is also worrying, according to the last record they made in July 2022. Around 50% of human talent left their jobs to dedicate themselves to a more profitable trade.
Some teachers have devised the figure of the “little school”, which is nothing more than directed tasks that they teach from their homes to generate extra income. This has been an alternative for parents and teachers, because with an investment of 5 dollars a week, the children receive academic help that complements the education given in the classroom.