Critical Times

On the third day of the AVSN brigade, and a day after the 2 million electoral campaign rally for Chavez in Caracas, members visited the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV). The UBV is located in the old PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela, Sociedad Autonoma) building headquarters in Caracas. These buildings were once the preserve and playhouses for unproductive managers in decades gone past. The UBV is a state university in Venezuela founded in 2003 by decree of President Chávez. Julio Vivas, Academic Director, spoke to the brigade members about the purpose of the UBV, “Education Missions” and the role of education in the founding of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (Bolivarian University of Venezuela)

The UBV provides free higher education to the poor and is a part of the Chávez government’s “Mission Sucre” social programs. Therefore, enrolment at the UBV is free and open to all, regardless of academic qualifications, prior education or even nationality. During 2006, the university had a student population of 180,000.The government expects the student body to grow to 1 million by 2009, with more than 190 satellite classrooms throughout Venezuela.

The objective of the UBV is to break with the fragmentation of knowledge and the university structure of faculties, schools, and departments and pay attention to the holistic development of students. In contrast to traditional universities who produce depoliticized professionals absorbed with only using their technical skills, the UBV promotes combining technical skills with a sense of social responsibility. The university wants to create professionals with a sense of public service who wish to contribute to the reconstruction of Venezuelan society.

The UBV has three main disciplines, that had been neglected and are now urgent priorities for the country: environmental management, social management (which is not just sociology or social work, but a complete formation including anthropology, sociology, and psychology), and social communication (including journalism and mass communication). The following courses are offered at UBV: Agroecología (Agroecology), Arquitectura (Architecture), Comunicación Social (Social Communication), Educación (Education), Gestión Ambiental (Environmental Management), Gestión Social del Desarrollo Local (Social Management of Local Development), Gestión de la Salud Pública (Public Health Management), Medicina (Medicine), Informática para la Gestión Social (Information Technology for Social Management), Estudios Jurídicos (Law), and Estudios Políticos y de Gobierno (Political Science).

The University recognized the need for a change in thinking, and to acknowledge the cross-disciplinary nature of work. When a professional acts, their actions have an effect on human beings. So professionals must come to understand the human consequences of their decisions. This implies a change in the process of learning and what a professional in this country, needs to know. For example, students studying Social Work, carry out a real life project over the period of their course. The first year of their project would include surveying people of a particular community to identify their most important need; their second year would focus on working out a plan in conjunction with the community; and the third year to achieve, with the community, the goal of undertaking and completing that project.

Social Missions

The Social Missions created by the Venezuelan government have brought about momentous change and are the seeds for the construction of a new society. In fact they are virtually a parallel state structure and sit alongside the old state bureaucracy, which is hostile to the transformation taking place. These Missions are structures to carry out social justice, social welfare, anti-poverty, and educational programs implemented under the administration of Chavez’s Bolivarian Government. The educational missions are, Robinson, Ribas and Sucre.

Misión Robinson (Mission Robinson)

The name “Robinson” was given to the Mission in remembrance of the pseudonym adopted during his exile from Spanish America by Venezuelan philosopher and educator Simón Rodríguez (1769–1854). It was launched in July, 2003. The program uses volunteers to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to the more than 1.5 million Venezuelan adults who were illiterate prior to Chávez’s election to the presidency in 1999. The education courses are designed for those Venezuelans who have not completed their elementary-level education. The program has been one of military-civilian cooperation, where soldiers have been sent, especially to remote and dangerous locales in order to reach the most undereducated, neglected, and marginalized adult citizens to give them regular schooling and lessons. In 2005, Venezuela declared itself a “Territory Free of Illiteracy”, having raised the literacy rate to 99%, by graduating 1.4m Venezuelans from the Mission.

Misión Ribas (Mission Ribas)

Named after the independence hero, José Felix Ribas. It was launched November, 2003. It provided remedial high school level classes to millions of Venezuelan high school dropouts. Up to January 2006, the Bolivarian government has helped 885,410 Venezuelans enter this mission. There are currently 578,668 Venezuelans studying in this mission at 8,306 school facilities nationwide. There are 32,291 classrooms and 173,834 students have received scholarships.

Misión Sucre (Mission Sucre)

Named after the 18th century independence leader, Antonio José de Sucre. It was launched in September, 2003. Mission Sucre was established to achieve mass education and graduation of university professionals in three years. This mission attempts to popularize, reform, and expand Venezuelan higher education and is geared especially towards the poorest and most marginalized segments of society. This project is offered throughout the country. This program’s goal is to guarantee and provide access to higher education to all high school students and establish a synergy between educational institutions and community participation. The program, so far, has registered 472,363 high school graduates and 318,381 have finished the University Introductory Program. A total of 330,346 high school graduates have entered educational programs.

The role of education in the Bolivarian Revolution

In the past schooling was Eurocentric in nature, with little focus on local, Venezuelan or Latin American influences. The Government has sought to introduce a new “Bolivarian Curriculum” to include more accurate historical information on Venezuelan and Latin American history. There has been a growth of Bolivarian schools. For example in Caracas over 1500 Bolivarian schools have been opened in neighbourhoods and areas with traditionally little or no access to quality education. A new school system is growing around the old. A programme to retire older teachers and teachers resistant to change has been put into effect. A new Teacher training programme has been instituted, together with a new programme of recruiting 3 year internships (teachers on initial three year contracts).

Amongst the problems inherited were the quality of learning, low enrollments, the poor conditions of school buildings and the health of the children. Nutrition has become an educational priority and is seen as key to tackling low enrollment. There has been an emphasis on better school meals with strong efforts to recruit parents as cooks to ensure the quality of food, with further plans to institute programmes of school sports and school educational trips. This reflects the impoverished nature of many of the ‘barrios’ and is also tackled through the social missions’ networks of soup kitchens – providing a wholesome midday meal.

Another successful intervention in improving school attendance has been a system of insurance, linked to attendance, for children providing cover for health and accident costs. The system of Missions have provided hope and rising aspirations for the people of the ‘barrios’. Highly politicized barrios are starting to see education as part of the road to liberation.