Venezuela Education Stats
Author: jaacosta47
The educational system in Venezuela is administered and regulated by the Ministry of Education. It is very centralized. Education is mandatory for the first nine years and taught in Spanish. After this stage of basic education, students usually choose between humanities or the sciences at the expanded secondary education level. This takes two years and leads to a bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, secondary students can take a two or three year specialized curriculum leading to a technical degree. Education is free for everyone and at all levels of the system. Nonetheless, private schooling is popular particularly at the secondary level. Public and private schools are supervised by the education ministry and meet prescribed standards.
Education standards in Venezuela are said to be the highest in Latin America, according to research. Among all Venezuelans (15 years and older), 93.4% can read and write which is one of the highest literacy rates in the region. While the Venezuelan education system is over-extended and lacks sufficient funding, the government is committed to the idea that every citizen is entitled to free education.
The country has more than 90 institutions of higher education with over six million students. Higher education gets 35% of the education budget even though it accounted for only 11 percent of the student population. More than 70 percent of university students come from the affluent sectors. To address this concern, the government established the Bolivarian University system in 2003 to provide more access to higher education. UNESCO has declared in the past that the government has successfully eradicated illiteracy with more than 1.5 million citizens having learned how to read and write.
Definitions
- Adult literacy rate > Total: Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life."
- Average years of schooling of adults: Average years of schooling of adults is the years of formal schooling received, on average, by adults over age 15. (Data Source: Barro-Lee Data Set www.worldbank.org/html/prdmg/grthweb/ddbarle2.htm)
- Children out of school, primary: Children out of school, primary. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Total is the total number of primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools.
- Children out of school, primary per 1000: Children out of school, primary. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Total is the total number of primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools. Figures expressed per thousand population for the same year.
- Children out of school, primary, female: Children out of school, primary, female. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Female is the total number of female primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools.
- College and university > Gender parity index: Country's gender parity index for college and university enrollment. For countries with a rating of over 1, more females are enrolled while countries with a rating under 1 have more males enrolled.
- Compulsary education duration: Number of years students are required to be enrolled in school for all levels of education. For instance, compulsary education lasts for 12 years in the United States.
- Government spending on education > Proportion of GDP: Percentage of public funding for education out of country's total GDP.
- High school enrolment rate: Progression to secondary school refers to the number of new entrants to the first grade of secondary school in a given year as a percentage of the number of students enrolled in the final grade of primary school in the previous year.
- Literacy > Total population: This entry includes a definition of literacy and Census Bureau percentages for the total population, males, and females. There are no universal definitions and standards of literacy. Unless otherwise specified, all rates are based on the most common definition - the ability to read and write at a specified age. Detailing the standards that individual countries use to assess the ability to read and write is beyond the scope of our source. Information on literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is probably the most easily available and valid for international comparisons.
- Primary education, duration > Years: Primary education, duration (years). Duration of primary is the number of grades (years) in primary education.
- Primary education, teachers per 1000: Primary education, teachers. Teaching staff in primary. Public and private. Full and part-time. All programmes. Total is the total number of teachers in public and private primary education institutions. Teachers are persons employed full time or part time in an official capacity to guide and direct the learning experience of pupils and students, irrespective of their qualifications or the delivery mechanism, i.e. face-to-face and/or at a distance. This definition excludes educational personnel who have no active teaching duties (e.g. headmasters, headmistresses or principals who do not teach) and persons who work occasionally or in a voluntary capacity in educational institutions. Figures expressed per thousand population for the same year.
- Pupil-teacher ratio, primary: Pupil-teacher ratio, primary. Pupil-teacher ratio. Primary is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school divided by the number of primary school teachers.
- Pupil-teacher ratio, secondary: Pupil-teacher ratio, secondary. Pupil-teacher ratio. Secondary is the number of pupils enrolled in secondary school divided by the number of secondary school teachers.
- Secondary education, duration > Years: Secondary education, duration (years). Duration of secondary education is the number of grades (years) in secondary education (ISCED 2 & 3).
SOURCES: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.; UNESCO; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.; United Nations Statistics Division. Source tables; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Source tables; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Source tables; CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.
Citation
Venezuela Education Profiles (Subcategories)
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The educational system in Venezuela is administered and regulated by the Ministry of Education. It is very centralized. Education is mandatory for the first nine years and taught in Spanish. After this stage of basic education, students usually choose between humanities or the sciences at the expanded secondary education level. This takes two years and leads to a bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, secondary students can take a two or three year specialized curriculum leading to a technical degree. Education is free for everyone and at all levels of the system. Nonetheless, private schooling is popular particularly at the secondary level. Public and private schools are supervised by the education ministry and meet prescribed standards.
Education standards in Venezuela are said to be the highest in Latin America, according to research. Among all Venezuelans (15 years and older), 93.4% can read and write which is one of the highest literacy rates in the region. While the Venezuelan education system is over-extended and lacks sufficient funding, the government is committed to the idea that every citizen is entitled to free education.
The country has more than 90 institutions of higher education with over six million students. Higher education gets 35% of the education budget even though it accounted for only 11 percent of the student population. More than 70 percent of university students come from the affluent sectors. To address this concern, the government established the Bolivarian University system in 2003 to provide more access to higher education. UNESCO has declared in the past that the government has successfully eradicated illiteracy with more than 1.5 million citizens having learned how to read and write.
Posted on 11 Apr 2014
jaacosta47
423 Stat enthusiast
