MARÍA LILIBETH DA CORTE
EL UNIVERSAL

"I want to acknowledge the private education sector. You can count on us," said Monday President Hugo Chávez, and then warned such private schools that they "should be subordinated to the Constitution and the Bolivarian domestic education system"; otherwise, "they will have to close their schools."

"Nobody -the government, fathers, mothers, or the society- should let the private sector do whatever it wants. They cannot claim that they have a private school and they will not let inspectors in. No way. If they do, their schools will be closed, because education is a serious matter," said the Venezuelan ruler, during a ceremony to inaugurate Bolivarian School Doctor José María Vargas, in El Tigre, eastern Anzoátegui state, thus opening school year 2007-2008.

Talking to the Minister of Education, his brother Adán Chávez, who was sitting next to him, Chávez underscored that if any school principal refuses to allow official inspections, "we shall take the that school over."

"This cannot be! Take Germany, the United States, or any other country around the world and see whether that (refusing to accept official inspections) can happen. Those schools will be closed down, taken over, and nationalized. Then, we will take responsibility for the students," Chávez stated. He claimed he has "support from most fathers and mothers, and teachers in Venezuela. Education is a social, public issue; it is not a private issue."

According to Chávez, both the 1999 Constitution and his proposed changes to it "acknowledge private schools, but private schools need to respect the Constitution and should be subordinated to the Constitution, to the domestic education project, domestic education system, to the Bolivarian education system."

"If any private player wants to cooperate with education and open a school, welcome!" he said, but stressed he would not let that primary, secondary and higher education "be used as a business, managed with a commercial purpose, where children and youth are viewed as commodities."

Chávez said the "theory that the State should not interfere in the education system" is a thesis advanced by capitalism.

He added that when he took office in 1999, the budget for education amounted only to 3.6 percent of the Venezuelan year budget, and now it adds up to 7.4 percent.

During a three-hour radio and television mandatory speech, Chávez claimed that 8,859,331 people began school in Venezuela on Monday (primary and secondary school), which represents 32 percent in a population of 27,492,880 people.

He added that including the students of special education missions, the number climbs to 13.8 million people. "This means that 50 percent of the population is studying in the formal education system."

Including higher education, he stressed, Venezuela will be one of the few countries in the world "where near 60 percent of the population is part of the formal education system."

Translated by Maryflor Suárez R.
msuarez@eluniversal.com