- Edgar Machado, president of the union in the Capital District, said that many children pass grades without knowing how to read or add | Photo: José Daniel Ramos @danielj2511
The president of the Venezuelan Union of Teachers (FVM) of the Capital District, Edgar Machado, said that in this last school year (2023-2024) many students have a lack of academic knowledge.
Machado said many children are advancing through the grades without developing skills in areas such as reading or math.
(There are) students who go from first to second grade without knowing how to read, the complete alphabet, or add. The deficiency that we will have from now on will be alarming,” Machado warned in an interview with Radio Fe y Alegría on July 10.
The FVM president also warned that educational institutions continue to suffer from damage to their infrastructure, in addition to low teacher salaries.
He reported that at the Nuestros Ilustres Próceres school in Caracas, 12 teachers had their salaries suspended.
“(The teachers) worked on a patchwork schedule. I want to remind you that it was not implemented by the unions but by the Minister (of Education) herself, who at one point stated that those teachers would look for another type of economic activity in order to survive,” explained the union leader.
Mosaic schedule in Venezuelan schools
In most schools in Venezuela, teachers apply the mosaic or contingency schedule, which refers to only giving face-to-face classes two to three times a week.
Economic problems, transportation crises and food shortages are some of the factors that experts have detected, which is why both representatives and teachers agree to apply this type of schedule.
He insisted that this measure implies the loss of other benefits such as the vacation bonus and the “Economic War” bonus.
Review of the 2023-2024 school year
On July 8, the president of the FVM offered a Review of the 2023-2024 school yearAt that time, he warned that many students in Venezuela graduate from high school without developing sufficient numerical and reading comprehension skills to access higher education.
He also reported that during the last school year a considerable number of teachers had left their posts due to the low salaries they received.
“There are a large number of teachers who have left the education system due to the low salaries offered by the Ministry of Education. Every year, more teachers are leaving the classroom to go to other areas,” said Machado.
He believes it is important for the Ministry of Education to implement policies that allow teachers to return to their jobs.
Deficiencies
Over the past two years, several studies on education have warned of the lack of knowledge that has been detected among Venezuelan students.
In November 2023, the School of Education of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) published the Online Knowledge Assessment System (Secel) study, which revealed that primary and high school students have “serious” educational deficiencies in subjects that are considered fundamental.
According to the research, high school students had average scores of 7.53 out of 20 in mathematics and 9.11 out of 20 in verbal ability.
The analysis was based on more than 23 thousand diagnostic tests that were applied to students from public schools (52.79%) and private schools (47.21%) located in Caracas, Miranda, Bolívar, Nueva Esparta, Lara and Zulia.
The subjects in which weakness of knowledge was demonstrated were:
-Mathematics
-Verbal ability
-Social Sciences
-Natural Sciences
-Chemical
-Biology
-English
In October 2022, the Secel warned of the same scenario, regarding the lack of competence and “serious deficiencies” among students in fundamental subjects.
At that time, the study revealed that students in the Venezuelan educational system do not have the necessary knowledge of mathematics and verbal skills. It highlighted that the level of competence in these areas deteriorated as they progressed from school year to school.
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2024-07-11 01:15:53
