Nuestro amigo Gregory Elacqua ha circulado dos interesantes artículos de prensa publicados en los Estados Unidos sobre la reforma educacional del Presidente Chavez en Venezuela. Se transcriben más abajo. Se trata de un comentario del diario inglés The Guardia del AP, de un artículo del New York Times y de una información circulada por la Agencia AP.
La Agencia Boliviariana de Noticias informa hoy al tenor de la siguiente nota:
Chávez: Nuevo diseño curricular educativo es indispensable para docentes
ABN 17/09/2007
El Tigre, Anzoátegui
Caracas, 17 Sep. ABN.- De acuerdo con el presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías, el nuevo diseño curricular del sistema educativo bolivariano debe convertirse en un elemento indispensable para los docentes.
Durante la inauguración formal de la Escuela Bolivariana de José María Vargas, en la urbanización San Antonio, en el municipio Simón Rodríguez del estado Anzoátegui, Chávez señaló que «no puede haber un docente sin ese librito».
La necesidad de que así sea está en el que, de acuerdo con Chávez, los docentes deben orientar a los niños y jóvenes venezolanos desde los pilares de la revolución bolivariana, contenidos en el referido documento.
El jefe de Estado venezolano señaló además que es necesario que se desmonte el modelo de educación capitalista, la cual «lleva un mensaje que orienta el niño y al joven inocente a que debe tener dinero para algún día darle a los que no tienen con la intención de justificar».
En su lugar, el presidente Chávez propuso que la educación Bolivariana, «que con los pilares de la creación, participación y convivencia, hacen liberador al sistema educativo».
En ese sentido, resaltó que el nuevo diseño curricular es un documento base de gran importancia que debe ser difundido en las aulas de clase, bibliotecas y páginas de internet.
Este documento ha sido realizado por un equipo del ministerio del Poder Popular para la Educación, el cual fue objeto de felicitaciones por parte del Presidente, que consideró su elaboración como «un trabajo impecable».
—————————————————————————————————–
Por su lado, el diario
El Universal publica en esta fecha la siguiente nota.
Chávez: “Hay que profundizar el sistema de las escuelas bolivarianas”
El Tigre/ Caracas.- El presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez, afirmó que “la constitución roja rojita reconoce a los colegios privados, pero estos deben respetarla y apegarse al sistema educativo bolivariano”.
Amenazó a los dueños de colegios privados de un eventual cierre si no “no se pliegan al sistema bolivariano de educación”. “Habrá que cerrar la escuela, se interviene, se nacionaliza y se asume la responsabilidad de esos niños”, enfatizó.
El primer mandatario criticó que en gobiernos anteriores se haya estudiado la privatización de la educación, “como un plan del imperialismo para negarle al pueblo la educación”.
Las declaraciones las ofreció en cadena nacional durante los actos de inauguración de la escuela bolivariana Dr. José María Vargas, en El Tigre, estado Anzoátegui.
El primer mandatario, acompañado por el ministro del Poder Popular para la Educación, Adán Chávez, y el gobernador del estado Anzoátegui, Tarek William Saab, fue recibido por los estudiantes que interpretaron las letras del Himno Nacional.
La escuela bolivariana Dr. José María Vargas, de El Tigre, albergará en total a 526 alumnos: 125 en educación inicial y 401 en educación primaria.
“Hay que seguir profundizando el sistema de las escuelas bolivarianas”, enfatizo el primer mandatario nacional para quien hay que “continuar la transformación de las viejas escuelas hacia escuelas bolivarianas”.
Chávez pidió que se acelere la formación y capacitación de los docentes bajo este nuevo sistema. “Una escuela cuyos docentes no hayan recibido la inducción bolivariana no puede ser bolivariana. Los padres debemos meternos, asumir lo que es modelo de educación bolivariana, capacitarnos”, agregó.
Solicitó a los maestros tener presente los cuatro pilares y ejes programáticos del diseño curricular de las escuelas bolivarianas. Habló del “otro extremo” en el que los maestros no asuman el concepto de lo que es la escuela bolivariana. “Su compromiso con el sistema”, recalcó según Efe.
“Le he dicho a Adán que este año tendremos ingresos adicionales, entonces yo ya tengo mis cálculos y sé cual va a ser el superávit. Tendremos excedentes presupuestarios, que nos permite una maniobra y entonces yo quiero Adán que aprovechemos acelerar el diagnostico, la revisión de las necesidades en las instalaciones educativas”, continuó.
“Aceleremos el mantenimiento y construcción de nuevas escuelas, desde preescolar hasta las universidades”, indicó.
“Una buena parte de los excedentes irán a la construcción de nuevas escuelas, vayan buscando los terrenos”, exhortó a los gobernadores y alcaldes.
Con este acto, el primer mandatario oficializó el inicio el período escolar 2007-08.- VHF/Efe
Postings previos sobre este tópico
Venezuela: ¿Hacia dónde camina la reforma de la educación superior?, 4 agosto 2007
Gobierno del Presidente Chávez anuncia nuevas institituciones de educación superior, 1 junio 2007
Venezuela: reforma educacional socialista y el reto del “hombre nuevo”, 7 marzo 2007
Venezuela: Hacia una nueva educación bolivariana, 26 enero 2007

The Guardian
Venezuela’s Chavez Warns Private Schools
Monday September 17, 2007 6:31 PM
By IAN JAMES
Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to close or take over any private school that refuses to submit to the oversight of his socialist government as it develops a new curriculum and textbooks.
“Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants,” said Chavez, speaking on the first day of classes.
All schools, public and private, must admit state inspectors and submit to the government’s new educational system, or be closed and nationalized, with the state taking responsibility for the education of their children, Chavez said.
A new curriculum will be ready by the end of this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate “the new citizen,” said Chavez’s brother and education minister Adan Chavez, who joined him a televised ceremony at the opening of a public school in the eastern town of El Tigre.
The president’s opponents accuse him of aiming to indoctrinate young Venezuelans with socialist ideology. But the education minister said the aim is to develop “critical thinking,” not to impose a single way of thought.
Just what the new curriculum will include and how it will be applied to all Venezuelan schools and universities remains unclear.
“We want to create our own ideology collectively – creative, diverse,” the president said, adding that it would help develop values of “cooperation and solidarity.”
All schools will be bound to “subordinate themselves to the constitution” and comply with the “new Bolivarian educational system,” he said, referring to his socialist movement named after South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Anticipating criticism, Chavez said the state’s role in regulating education is internationally accepted and that it wouldn’t be possible for a school administrator to insist on autonomy in countries like Germany or the United States.
Chavez also noted that previous Venezuelan educational systems carried their own ideology. Leafing through old grade school textbooks from the 1970s, he pointed out how they referred to Venezuela’s “discovery” by Europeans.
“They taught us to admire Christopher Colombus and Superman,” Chavez said, adding that education based on capitalist ideology had destroyed “the values of children.”
———————————————————————————————————-
NYTimes
September 18, 2007
Chávez Warns Private Schools Not to Resist His Inspectors
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept. 17 (AP) — President Hugo Chávez threatened Monday to take over any private schools refusing to submit to the oversight of his socialist government, a move some Venezuelans fear will impose leftist ideology in the classroom.
All Venezuelan schools, public and private, must submit to state inspectors enforcing the new educational system. Those that refuse will be closed and nationalized, Mr. Chávez said.
A new curriculum will be phased in during this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate “the new citizen,” said Adán Chávez, the president’s brother and the education minister, in their televised ceremony on the first day of classes.
Just what the curriculum will include and how it will be applied to all Venezuelan schools and universities remain unclear.
More than eight years after President Chávez was first elected, the curriculum at most Venezuelan schools is largely unchanged, particularly in private schools commonly attended by middle- and upper-class children.
Anticipating criticism, he noted that a state role in regulating education was internationally accepted in countries from Germany to the United States.
“We must train socially minded people to help the community, and that’s why the revolution’s socialist program is being implemented,” said Zulay Campos, a member of a Bolivarian State Academic Commission that evaluates compliance with academic guidelines. “If they attack us because we’re indoctrinating, well yes, we’re doing it, because those capitalist ideas that our young people have — and that have done so much damage to our people — must be eliminated.”
Adán Chávez said the goal was to develop “critical thinking,” not to impose a single philosophy.
Venezuela has more than 160 universities and colleges, most of which maintain their independence. Leftist ideology is already part of the curriculum at seven state universities.
—————————————————————————————————
Associated Press
Chavez Threatens to Take Over Schools
By SANDRA SIERRA – 9 hours ago
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to take over any private schools refusing to submit to the oversight of his socialist government, a move some Venezuelans fear will impose leftist ideology in the classroom.
All Venezuelan schools, both public and private, must submit to state inspectors enforcing the new educational system. Those that refuse will be closed and nationalized, Chavez said.
A new curriculum will be phased in during this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate “the new citizen,” added Chavez’s brother and education minister Adan Chavez in their televised ceremony on the first day of classes.
Just what the curriculum will include and how it will be applied to all Venezuelan schools and universities remains unclear.
But one college-level syllabus obtained by The Associated Press shows some premedical students already have a recommended reading list including Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and Fidel Castro’s speeches, alongside traditional subjects like biology and chemistry.
The syllabus also includes quotations from Chavez and urges students to learn about slain revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Colombian rebel chief Manuel Marulanda, whose leftist guerrillas are considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the U.S. and European Union.
Venezuelan officials defend the program at the Latin American Medical School — one in a handful of state-run colleges and universities that emphasize socialist ideology — as the new direction of Venezuelan higher education.
“We must train socially minded people to help the community, and that’s why the revolution’s socialist program is being implemented,” said Zulay Campos, a member of a Bolivarian State Academic Commission that evaluates compliance with academic guidelines.
“If they attack us because we’re indoctrinating, well yes, we’re doing it, because those capitalist ideas that our young people have — and that have done so much damage to our people — must be eliminated,” Campos said.
Now some critics worry that primary and secondary schoolchildren will be indoctrinated as well.
Chavez’s efforts to spread ideology throughout society is “typical of communist regimes at the beginning” in Russia, China and Cuba — and is aimed at “imposing a sole, singular vision,” sociologist Antonio Cova said.
But Adan Chavez said the goal is to develop “critical thinking,” not to impose a single philosophy.
More than eight years after President Chavez was first elected, the curriculum at most Venezuelan schools remains largely unchanged, particularly in private schools commonly attended by middle- and upper-class children.
Anticipating criticism, Chavez noted that a state role in regulating education is internationally accepted in countries from Germany to the United States.
Chavez said all schools in Venezuela must comply with the “new Bolivarian educational system,” named after South American liberation leader Simon Bolivar and Chavez’s socialist movement.
Discussing the new curriculum, he said it would help students develop values of “cooperation and solidarity” while learning critical reflection, dialogue and volunteer work.
Previous Venezuelan educational systems carried their own ideology, Chavez said. Leafing through old texts from the 1970s during his speech, he pointed out how they referred to Venezuela’s “discovery” by Europeans.
“They taught us to admire Christopher Columbus and Superman,” Chavez said.
Education based on capitalist ideology has corrupted children’s values, he said. “We want to create our own ideology collectively — creative, diverse.” Chavez said Venezuelans — not Cubans as opponents suggest — have been drawing up the new curriculum, but added that Venezuela could always accept Cuban help in the future.
Venezuela has more than 160 universities and colleges, most of which maintain their independence. Leftist ideology is already part of the curriculum at seven different state universities. But encouraging students nationwide to read up on Guevara, Castro and Friedrich Engels’ speech before Marx’s tomb would be something new entirely.
About 20 of the 400 foreign pre-med students have dropped out of the Latin American Medical School near Caracas. Among them was Gabriel Gomez Guerrero, 22, of Colombia, who was shocked that the syllabus counts Marulanda among “important Latin American thinkers” to be studied. The head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is his government’s public enemy No. 1.
“They aren’t going to introduce that man to me as a ‘Latin American thinker,'” Gomez said. “They may brainwash other people, but not me.”
School director Sandra Moreno said nobody is being brainwashed — the idea is simply to provide a foundation in Latin American affairs. And Ana Montenegro, a program coordinator who helped create the syllabus, said it was a mistake to describe Marulanda that way, but that the course program will continue to evolve and improve.
Many of the remaining students describe themselves as socialists and say no one is pressuring them.
“They don’t impose what we have to learn,” said Roberto Leal, a 30-year-old Brazilian. “If we don’t agree with something, we express our opinion.”
Associated Press writers Ian James in Caracas and Joshua Goodman in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.