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The Republic of Bolivia, in the center of South America, is land-locked and surrounded by 5 countries: Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile in the south; Brazil in the east; and Peru in the north. Because it is split by some of the highest mountains in the world, isolation plagues educational progress. La Paz is the government capital of Bolivia, but Sucre is the legal capital and the seat of the judici…
The present constitution of Bolivia dates back to 1967 but was revised in 1994. There are three branches to the government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch is the president and vice-president, both elected for five years, and the cabinet, appointed by the president. Traditionally strong, the executive branch tends to initiate the legislation and, by doing so, it limits t…
Generally speaking, education in Bolivia is divided into three cycles—four if one counts the optional prescholar or preprimary years. There are 5 years of elementary education in the primary cycle for 6- to 10-year-olds; 3 years of intermediate education in the middle schools for 11- to 13-year-olds; and 4 years of secondary education for 14- to 17-year-olds. The four years of secondary sch…
Before 1900, tutors (generally from the clergy) educated the sons of white elite families. The Indians were taught only enough to convert them to Catholicism. At that date only 17 percent of the adult population was literate. But, in the early 1900s, a teaching mission from Belgium laid the foundation for the Bolivian rural primary school, and in 1931 Elizardo Pérez founded a large nuclear …
The real lack of public educational infrastructure and the policy of Paz Estenssoro encouraged private educational investment in Bolivia. Since 1989, about 380 new private schools were created and attendance rose. Students who complete secondary school successfully earn the title of bachiller when they pass the exit bachillerato exam. This exam, along with a health certificate, is a requirement to…
The traditional history of Bolivian higher education starts with the foundation of the Royal and Pontifical University of San Francisco Xavier UMSFX, in La Plata (Sucre), in March 1624. In Colonial times and under Spanish rule, Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica influenced education. As a result, higher education awarded degrees in theology and law only. Forensics was later added in 17…
The ten universities that are public and autonomous are grouped in the National Coordination Organization, the Executive Committee of the Bolivian University (CEUB). Both the Catholic University and the Military School of Engineering are also affiliated with the CEUB. Altogether, they educate about 70 percent of the total university enrollees. As the private universities grew after 1985, they also…
Distance learning is still a very new concept in Bolivia; however, the possibilities the method offers are being studied.
According to the Education for All (EFA) study, the number of primary school teachers having the required academic qualifications went from 63.7 percent in 1990 to 67.0 percent in 1999 for females, and from 59 percent to 60 percent for males during the same period. The percentage of school teachers who were certified to teach according to national standards decreased very slightly between 1990 and…
Overall, Bolivia is showing an increase in total enrollments and a general improved parity between males and females, especially in urban private schools at the secondary level. Moreover there has been a beneficial increase in the private schools sector. An increased demand for quality education on the part of parents has meant a large migration of students towards cities. The citizens of Bolivia …
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