Education Ministry representatives who visited some of the 558 'Bolivarian' schools in the country, said they encountered serious problems like poor infrastructure which is hobbling efforts to improve the terrible state of primary education. They were in much worse condition than we expected,'' they said. One of the problems is that we selected the schools by computer,'' admits Education Minister Hector Navarro who rues the fact that the condition of schools was not physically verified beforehand. As a result, the 'Bolivarian' project, which was intended to transform primary school education and lure children to classrooms, has been burdened by the diversion of funds to improve the infrastructure and train teachers instead. Yet the government in its country report prepared for the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, between April 26 and 28, says all primary schools are to be brought into the 'Bolivarian' project by 2005.
Most schools here follow a half-time schedule.
The 'Bolivarian' school system seeks to encompass ''pedagogical, scholastic, educational, nutritional, health and sports issues,'' says the document, which acknowledges the problems plaguing the initiative. Take the dilapidated state of infrastructure. The challenges of adapting the infrastructure for all primary school students and of training teachers are huge and will require at least 11 years of work, more than double the originally allotted time,'' Armas says. Rural schools need air-conditioning, according to the researcher. Many of them have zinc-sheet roofs that quickly heat up the classrooms in which students must spend all day, he said.