Venezuela’s Ravaged Schools Lack Food, Books and Students
A generation goes without education as the socialist nation’s crisis grinds on
Elementary teacher Nayibe Moreno stares down at an exposed sewage pipe in the Cecilio Acosta school’s kindergarten area.
Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg
A generation of Venezuelan children is missing the chance for an adequate education amid mass absenteeism, decaying buildings and an exodus of qualified teachers. Education was a priority for the government of President Hugo Chavez, who boosted spending on public schooling and expanded literacy programs for the poor. When Chavez took office in 1999, he pledged to eliminate illiteracy in the country.
Twenty years into the nation’s socialist experiment, classrooms are half-empty as the school system falls apart amid a spiraling economic crisis and hyperinflation.