A scholarship program provides for greater equity in access and improved gender equity. Because private schools serve 52 percent of secondary school children, they are included in many of the ministry's programs. Political disagreements have slowed implementation of education reforms. Teacher salaries are still low, government funds for education are insufficient, and the quality of teaching still needs to improve. Street gangs have proliferated and, with them, the incidence of violence.
Many young people suffer from malnutrition.
Teenage pregnancy and forced entry into the labor market to subsidize family incomes often cut education short. With Bank support, efforts are being made, but these are thorny, long-term issues. While the Bank's credits have been in the form of projects, the intention has been to help finance El Salvador's long-term integrated program of education reform. Donna Dowsett-Coirolo, country director.