The restructuring “plan” of the Ministry of Education to “rescue” the educational system

Venezuela has launched a plan to restructure, within an extendable period of six months, the Ministry of Education and its attached entitiesas part of the actions to rescue the educational systemin order to meet the needs of the sector more effectively and efficiently, according to the official announcement published this Wednesday by the state media VTV.

Resolution 0025, signed by the Minister of Education, Héctor Rodríguez, indicates that the process of restructuring the State portfolio aims «attend, with the greatest effectiveness and efficiency, to the development and functioning needs» of the basic education system.

During the period of six extendable months, “exceptional measures will be adopted to guarantee the effective exercise of the constitutional right to education at all its levels and modalities,” indicates the first article of the resolution.

What does the restructuring plan of the Ministry of Education consist of?

As part of the plan, all teaching staff with administrative functions in any of the institutions of the Ministry of Education “must attend, weekly, at least the academic hours of classes in a section, corresponding to their training area or related areas, in institutions.” “official educational institutions” of the country, during a time that was not specified.

In addition, Public educational centers must receive retired teachers who, voluntarily, want to rejoin.

On the other hand, the cessation of the service commissions of teachers who are performing duties in an institution other than their usual one is declared, so that they return to their schools to teach.

These measures were advanced on Monday by Rodríguez, who then pointed out that there are some difficulties in covering areas such as mathematics, chemistry and physics, which is why – he maintained – it is necessary to ensure that young people have all their teachers throughout their full schedule.

Teachers demand better working conditions

Recently, the president Nicolás Maduro promised a set of aid to public sector teachers, whom he asked to return to the classrooms, from which thousands of teachers deserted in recent years due to low salaries and working conditions.

The Executive has not explained whether this aid plan includes an increase in teachers’ salaries, which has been the central reason for the protests that this union has carried out in the last eight years, when, according to the group’s estimates, thousands of teachers left. the country due to the economic crisis.

The Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM) calculated that the average salary of a teacher per month is about 21 dollars at the official exchange rate, which it considers insufficient to cover the cost of the basic food basket. calculated in August by the organization at $107.8 per person.