March 9, 1984

TO: Henry A. Kissinger
Chairman, National Bipartisan Commission on Central America

FROM: Jose M. Aybar de Soto
Rosa Castro Feinberg

RE: THE IMPROVEMENT OF CENTRAL AMERICAN SCHOOLING AND
RELATED INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION CONSIDERATIONS

The following recommendations are presented to you in response to
your request, as conveyed by the Division of University Relations of Florida
International University. They follow the framework of the analysis
provided in the Report of the National Bipartisan Commission on Central
America. They are the product of insights gained through the study of
Central American development efforts and U.S. involvement therein and in
the conduct of intensive technical assistance services to public educational
systems in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.
Although the recommendations may help to fill in some of the gaps in the
information already available to you, we do not pretend to have supplied a
sorely needed comprehensive educational needs assessment of the region.

Our recommendations are intended to support two essential goals:

1) Improvements in the quality of education at every level

2) Increased relevance of education to development needs.

A pro-active, long term, mutually beneficial and agreed upon
educational policy, supported by adequate resources, is needed to provide the
bulwark for Central American development. To this must be added a commitment
by all participating governments to program continuation. In addition, such
a policy must maximize the use of extensive available resources both in the
state of Florida and the nation, stimulate the involvement of the private
sector both in this country and Central America, and include provisions for
accountability and feedback cycles leading to continuous improvements.

We are available to meet with you at your convenience to discuss the
items presented in the following outline.

JMAS-RCF:gp

MAR 15 1984

I. EDUCATIONAL PRE-REQUISITES NEEDED TO FOSTER CENTRAL AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT

A. Weak, inadequate or non-existent educational institutional base

1. Increase employment of full-time personnel

2. Provide training in human resource management and manpower scheduling practices

3. Provide training in the academic disciplines, teaching techniques, supervision, educational technology, administration, and management of teaching processes, as needed

4. Establish standards to measure results of teaching efforts and other quality control mechanisms at all levels

5. Make rural instruction relevant to the agricultural setting

6. Provide uniform training for rural teachers capitalizing on existing agricultural demonstration sites on "practical projects" in the rural areas

7. Institute "practical projects" appropriate for urban schools

B. Lack of adequate educational infrastructure

1. Expand communication infrastructure, e.g., roads, postal service, telephones

2. Expand vocational and technical education to include foreign language training in English, Russian, German, and French

3. Expand basic science education and further include foreign language training

4. Assist in the creation of small businesses and industry

5. Provide greater flexibility in the administration of interna-
tional bidding regulations

6. Provide training in the use of management information systems

II. PRE-REQUISITES FOR IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

A. Inadequate Nutrition

1. Assess consequences on Indo-Americans of PL 480 Milk Program

2. Replace products if needed

3. Expand distribution to reach at least all pre-school and public school primary students

B. Inappropriate Methodology

1. Provide training in:

a. Basic Skills

b. Problem Solving

c. Bilingual Education (for Guatemala and Honduras)

d. Adult Literacy

- 3 -

F. Augment faculty and student exchanges

G. Match extent of faculty training with job related facilities

H. Provide training for translators/interpreters and teachers of English to speakers of other languages in the Washington, D. C. area

I. Provide funding and support for U. S. faculty staff development to increase effectiveness in teaching multi-cultural student groups

J. Provide training in adult literacy and home language reading instruction to Ministry of Education and School of Education faculty

## IV. MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING AND ACCELERATING CENTRAL AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION: THE CREATION OF A CENTRAL AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER, TO:

A. Disseminate information

B. Provide training services to teachers, supervisors, administrators and professors

C. Provide technical assistance to policy makers at regional, national, area, and local levels

D. Coordinate efforts of donor agencies, in-country sectors, regional entities, normal schools, universities, and private sector volunteers

E. Create structures for mutual technical assistance between the U.S. and Central American countries with emphasis on math, science, literacy, and technology.

1. That Mrs. Woodruff called again on behalf of Mr. Gaupp-Berghausen to let us know when he might be passing through DC on his way back from Costa Rica en route to Europe. She said he'll be here the week of Mon Dec 5th thru Sat Dec 10th & will be staying at her house (wherever that is). She would like you to call to see whether appt with HAK could be set up -- 528-1479. She mentioned she's going out of town on the 17th. I told her I didn't believe HAK would be out of country that week but that you handled schedule.

TRANSLATION - jw

22 July 1983

Dear Henry:

It has been a long time since we spent almost the entire night talking at the home of Hans Imhof in Bonn and also several years since the correspondence we had when I was still president of the Gesellschaft für Politisch-Strategische Studien (Association for Political and Strategic Studies) in Vienna. Since then, I have been working part of my time in Central America for the past ten years. When I heard a few days ago that the President of the USA had just put you in charge of a special commission on this area, I knew that I had to renew contact with you.

In the past four to five years, I have always stopped over in Washington on my way to Costa Rica -- usually at the beginning of February so as to have the opportunity at the "National Prayer Breakfast" of alerting my American friends to the particularly critical situation in Central America. I never found very open ears, unfortunately, and was amazed at how little knowledge people have of the actual situation in these countries. With you, dear Henry, I know and am convinced that there will be a change in the Administration's views and then hopefully in its measures regarding the handling of the entire Central America issue.

I am planning to return to Costa Rica in October, and I would enjoy flying through Washington again should I have the opportunity to get together with you. To give you an idea and overview of my work in Costa Rica, I am sending you an interim report of a project of ours involving small regional cultural broadcasting stations; a small study which I put together at the request of a member of the Bundestag on the subject, "Development Program for the Caribbean and Central America"; an outline for a new project of mine concerning an "Indioamerica" study center; and a copy of an interview appearing in the Austrian magazine, *Profil*. In the interest of the matter, I would be very grateful for a short note acknowledging this letter and perhaps proposing a date for a meeting.

My address in Europe: Institut zur Förderung der
Erwachsenenbildung in Iberoamerika, Vaduz
(Institute for the Promotion of Adult
Education in Iberoamerica)
Postfach 657
FL-9490 Vaduz
Fürstentum Liechtenstein

Georg Gaupp-Berghausen

Enviado especial de Austria para asuntos culturales

Vicepresidente del ICER
(Instituto Costarricense de Enseñanza Radiofónica)

Miembro de la Junta Directiva del IGER
(Instituto privado Guatemalteco de Educación
a través de la Radio) Guatemala

San Pedro, Montes de Oca
Apartado 132
San José, Costa Rica
Teléfonos: 252137 y 243783

Vertretung in Europa:
Institut zur Förderung
der Erwachsenenbildung
in Iberoamerika, Vaduz

Sekretariat:
Armin Kloser
Südtirolerplatz 9
A-6971 Hard
Telefon: 05574/365813

22. Juli 1983

The
Right. hon. Mr. Henry Kissinger
White House
Washington D.C.
USA

Sehr verehrter, lieber Freund,
Dear Henry,

Es ist lange Zeit her, seit dem wir uns im Haus von Hans Imhof in Bonn fast eine Nacht lang unterhalten haben und es ist auch schon wieder einige Jahre her seit unserem Briefwechsel, den ich noch als Präsident der Gesellschaft für politisch-strategische Studien, Wien, mit Ihnen hatte. Inzwischen bin ich seit fast 10 Jahren zum Teil in Mittelamerika tätig. Als ich vor einigen Tagen hörte, dass Sie gerade für dieses Gebiet mit einer Sondermission vom Präsidenten der USA betraut wurden, war es für mich klar neuerlich den Kontakt zu Ihnen zu suchen.

Habe in den letzten 4 - 5 Jahren immer auf meinem Weg nach Costa Rica in Washington unterbrochen. Meistens Anfang Februar um beim "National Prayer Breakfast" die Möglichkeit zu haben, auf die besonders heikle Lage in Mittelamerika bei meinen amerikanischen Freunden aufmerksam zu machen. Leider hatte ich nie sehr offene Ohren gefunden und mich gewundert wie wenig Kenntnis man von der tatsächlichen Lage dieser Länder hat. Bei Ihnen, dear Henry, weiss ich und bin überzeugt, dass eine Aenderung in der Beurteilung und dann hoffentlich auch in den Massnahmen bei der Administration, in bezug auf die Behandlung des ganzen Mittelamerikakomplexes eintreten wird.

Meine Rückkehr nach Costa Rica ist für Oktober vorgesehen und ich würde gerne wieder über Washington fliegen, falls ich die Möglichkeit habe mit Ihnen zusammenzutreffen. Damit Sie einen Eindruck und Ueberblick über meine Arbeit in Costa Rica haben, sende ich Ihnen einen Zwischenbericht über unser derzeitiges Projekt der Kleinen regionalen Kultursender, wie eine kleine Studie, die ich auf Bitten eines Bundestagsabgeordneten verfasst habe zum Thema "Entwicklungsprogramm Karibik und Zentralamerika", zusammen mit einem Entwurf eines neuen Vorhabens von mir betreffend ein Studienzentrum "Indio-

AUG 04 1983