By Alexandra Olson. Associated Press Writer.
Tampa Bay Online. Feb 13, 2001 - 12:46 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Clad in red-and-blue uniforms, a dozen shrieking
preschoolers scamper through a tidy, palm-lined schoolyard - a happy oasis of
calm for 780 children inside a crime-ridden Caracas slum.
With free meals, medical care and eight hours a day of classes, Jose Marti
elementary and 500 other schools are designed to educate the poor and have
become a showcase of President Hugo Chavez's reformist zeal - and a highly
divisive one.
Since he was elected two years ago and unleashed his left-wing civic
revolution, Chavez has run into little opposition to his educational reforms.
Few would deny that Venezuela's decaying school system needs drastic remedies.
But many parents are worried about legislation going before the pro-Chavez
Congress this week that will require all schools to teach a course called "Bolivarian
Ideology," based on Venezuelan nationalism and an anti-imperialist,
anti-corruption, anti-elitist doctrine that is the ideological basis of Chavez's
government.
Even more controversial is a plan to muster an army of roving inspectors
with powers to recommend the dismissal of principals and teachers. Chavez says
he himself has applied to become an inspector.
Thousands of parents have taken to the streets - some to support Chavez,
others worried that "Bolivarian" means indoctrination of tender minds
- for instance, casting Chavez as the liberator of Venezuela from corruption and
oppression.
It hasn't escaped parents' notice that the "Bolivarian" curriculum
includes frequent field trips to rallies where Chavez sometimes speaks for
hours.
Teachers' unions are appealing to the Supreme Court to block the plan for
inspectors, backed by parents under the slogan: "Chavez, don't mess with my
children!"
Many critics are troubled by the Cuban connection. Under an exchange
program, Cuban educators train Venezuelan teachers and help develop Bolivarian
schools. At the Jose Marti kindergarten, named after a Cuban independence hero
and partially sponsored by the Cuban Embassy, students sing both the Cuban and
Venezuelan national anthems.
Chavez has responded to his opponents by adding them to his list of "oligarchies"
who he says have ruled Venezuela for too long and must be dislodged. In Chavez's
book, these range from fat-cat politicians, trade union bosses and corporate
chiefs to Catholic bishops and the cultural elite. They "live well, with
great houses, apartments" and "don't want to understand that we have a
new Constitution," he said last week.
The curriculum reform is the brainchild of Carlos Lanz, a Marxist
sociologist and Chavez associate who argues that globalization and consumerism
have robbed Venezuelan children of their national identity. He says schools
should teach children to reject the "concentration of property among few
people, classes or social layers" and see "individualism and
competitiveness" as forms of social injustice.
In a nation where more than half the 24 million population are poor, most
wealthy and middle class parents turn to private schools. The 17,000 public
schools serving 80 percent of Venezuelans have suffered decades of neglect.
Nearly two-thirds of their pupils drop out before graduating. Classes are
canceled, sometimes for months, by students protesting crumbling buildings and
lack of funding.
Since becoming president in 1999, Chavez has banned public schools from
levying registration fees, allowing thousands more children to go to class.
Education Minister Hector Navarro, who came up with the idea of inspectors,
notes that UNESCO urges developing countries to defend their cultures. "In
the United States, when children say the Pledge of Allegiance before class, they
are being indoctrinated," Navarro said.
Many public school teachers embrace the changes.
"We are rethinking the way we teach Venezuelan history so that children
develop a national identity and are able to defend their values. Before, kids
didn't really know their history," said Iris de Contreras, principal of
Caracas' Ambrioso Plaza public school, soon to join the Bolivarian ranks.
And many parents are just as opposed.
"We don't want our kids to become little soldiers behind a culture that
it not ours," said Lizette de Gonzalez, a mother of three.
AP-ES-02-13-01 1248EST. © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. | 