The duties and responsibilities imposed by law upon the juntas of
primary instruction are detailed at greatest length, as upon them
rests the proper execution of the law and the success of the entire
system. Most important of all these duties are those pertaining to the
enforcement of compulsory primary instruction. The juntas are required
to keep themselves informed of the primary instruction imparted to all
children of school age in their district, whether in schools public or
private or at home; to require all parents and guardians of children
of school age to have such children instructed as required by law;
to keep themselves informed of the progress of all such children; to
impose fines as required by law upon all parents or guardians who
neglect the instruction of children; to see that the children admitted
to schools of all grades conform in age, state of health, etc., to
the requirements of the law; to visit the schools in their district
frequently and regularly; and to keep registers of all facts pertaining
to the attendance upon such schools.
The duties and responsibilities of the inspectoral juntas of secondary
instruction and those of normal instruction are full and exacting and
along the lines already laid down.
The technical inspectors as a group have charge of all three grades
of instruction, each in the district assigned to him. As fixed by
ministerial decree, there are 10 of these, excluding the superintendent
for the Federal District. These functionaries are the direct agents
of the ministry of public instruction, and form the connecting link
between that office and the local juntas. They are vested with complete
power to compel the execution of the law by the local juntas under
penalties prescribed by law. They are instructed to work in complete
harmony with the juntas, to call meetings, and to outline to them their
duties under the law. They are also required to instruct teachers in
their duties. In short, the inspectors are the element upon which the
successful working of the machinery of the regulations depends.
The superintendent of public instruction in the Federal District is
directly under the authority of the minister of education.
The inspectors of higher and special instruction have duties and
responsibilities analogous to those of the inspectors already
mentioned, though these, for obvious reasons, are not outlined at such
length.
In the field of primary instruction the interest aroused in rural
schools has been the most marked feature in the past biennium.
The ministry of public instruction has paid special attention to
the project of establishing rural schools, fixed or traveling, in
the vicinity of the main manufacturing, industrial, or commercial
centers of the country, and the President by decree of July, 1917,
in commending the project, urged upon the juntas wherever possible
to develop this type of schools. Especially in the agricultural or
cattle-raising sections was the project received with enthusiasm,
applying, as it did, directly to the problems of illiteracy and the
training of the country population in practical subjects related to
daily life. By special decree the President urged the introduction
of elementary courses in agriculture in the established schedule of
studies.
Among the States which definitely established such schools the State
of Trujillo, fourth in population, took the lead by establishing 14,
with predominant emphasis upon practical courses in agriculture and
related subjects. Such schools began at once to serve as centers for
the instruction not only of the children of school age but of the
population generally in new methods, the use of machines, cooperative
societies, etc. Similarly in sections devoted to cattle raising they
were centers of inspiration and instruction in related subjects.
During the last biennium the industrial plants located in the centers
of Venezuela have established primary schools for the children of
their operatives, with the approval of the authorities, State and
municipal. The minister of public instruction, in his memoria for
1918, urge upon the Congress the passage of a law recognizing the work
of these schools, arranging for their inspection by the governmental
technical inspectors and the classification and certification of
pupils completing the courses offered in them. Such schools have also
done much in combating the illiteracy among adults by means of night
schools, and they have in many places, by employing excellent teachers,
served the very useful purpose of raising the standard of requirement
in various districts for the public schools, State or municipal.
Secondary education in Venezuela, according to the memoria referred to,
suffers much from the insufficiency and irregularity of the revenues
devoted to it, with the consequent inefficient equipment for modern and
scientific subjects and the inadequate salaries of the teachers. On the
pedagogical side the memoria found the effects experienced by secondary
education from the mechanical and memory instruction, too largely
prevalent in primary education, a permanent obstacle to any hope of
real reform in secondary education.
The colegios, a type of secondary school peculiar to the
Spanish-American countries, of grade preparatory to the liceos, seem
to be disappearing from Venezuelan education. There are now left
only 13 Federal colegios, all the others maintained by the States
and municipalities having lapsed. The explanation probably lies in
the exaggerated theoretical instruction they offered and its lack of
adaptation to the actual needs of the nation. A number of them occupied
buildings of some size and pretension, and the minister in his last
memoria suggested that the vocational and industrial schools needed in
the educational system might well be installed in these buildings.
Interest in the education of girls has made progress in Venezuela,
an especially promising liceo for girls having been established at
Caracas, offering advanced courses covering two years, with special
attention to physical training and modern subjects.
Education in arts and crafts for men has long been popular in
Venezuela, perhaps largely because of the national talent in those
subjects. The school at Caracas, established in 1916, offers a
four-year course, with English as the only foreign language. Within two
years it reached an enrollment of 288 in the regular classes and 213 in
the night courses.
Commercial education and training in political science courses have
grown in popularity during the last biennium. Schools of the former
have been established at Caracas, Maracaibo, Ciudad Bolívar, and Puerto
Cabello; and of the latter, at Caracas, subsidized by the Government
and regarded as an important adjunct in training for the legal
profession.
In the field of the primary normal schools, the ministry has seen the
necessity of their serving more largely the educational needs of the
nation by supplying more and better teachers to the schools. It is,
therefore, proposed to revise them thoroughly, especially in regard to
the chief defect observed since their establishment, namely, the poor
preparation of students who enter. It is proposed to offer, preparatory
to the normal school proper, a perfecting course in essentials
covering two or three years, to which would be added French, drawing,
gymnastics, and music. Such a course would preferably be offered in
the higher primary schools. The pupil should then proceed to the
specialized subjects of pedagogy, methodology, psychology, and the
history of education, these subjects to cover one year.
Another serious problem is the great difficulty experienced in securing
suitable candidates for the scholarships offered in the primary normal
schools by the several States and Territories. In many of them the
memoria reports that the appointments had to lapse in view of the
fact that no candidates qualified for them. The minister therefore
suggested that a system of boarding departments, annexed to the normal
schools, each accommodating about 20 boys of 10 to 13 years, should be
established as feeders to the normal school system.
By presidential decree, dated July, 1917, special courses in practical
agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, and domestic sciences were
established in the primary normal schools, with the view of especially
equipping teachers for the rural schools, whose establishment has come
to be regarded as so necessary for the nation.
By presidential decree of March, 1917, an experimental station
of agriculture and forestry, with an acclimatization garden, was
established near Caracas. It is intended to serve as a model for other
such stations in other parts of the country. “The objects of the
station are the improvement of the methods of cultivation of the chief
agricultural products of Venezuela; the introduction, selection, and
distribution of seeds; experiments in reforestation; the suitability of
soils to crops and of crops to various regions; and practical work for
the training of agricultural foremen and forest rangers.”