Amazonas: Venezuelan children cross the Orinoco to receive a better education in Colombia | via: PROVEA
Osdaly Aponte Martinez | Venezuela | July 16, 2024
“ We run the risk of sending our children on a river route that lasts between 7 to 10 minutes, crossing the mighty Orinoco River so that they receive a quality education .”
This is what Ofelia told us, a Venezuelan mother living in Puerto Ayacucho in the state of Amazonas, who sends her three daughters daily to study at the Antonia Santos Educational Institution , located in the town of Casuarito, on the other side of the border in the Department. from Vichada in Colombia. Although she preferred to protect her true identity, she told our team the routine they follow every day and the reasons that led her to register her daughters in the neighboring country.
“Our day starts before five in the morning. “I get up to prepare food so they can have breakfast and then I take them to the dock so they can take the transportation to Casuarito ,” she said.
In recent years, the enrollment of Venezuelan students, indigenous and non-indigenous, has increased considerably in the town of Casuarito, a township belonging to the municipality of Puerto Carreño (Department of Vichada) on the banks of the Orinoco River and in front of Puerto Ayacucho, the state capital. Venezuelan from Amazonas. Its only access route is by river from the Amazonian capital.
But this is not an impediment for hundreds of children and young people to cross the river every day, with sun or rain, in search of better academic training in Colombia.
“ The school enrollment of the Antonia Santos Educational Institute is currently 509 students in the three locations of this institution, of which 302 are from Venezuela ,” says Magda Arango, Academic Secretary of the institution.
“ About five years ago there were not even a hundred students from Puerto Ayacucho, this year there are three hundred, distributed in basic primary and middle secondary ,” said the official when asked.
“ Here education is free, teachers complete their full schedule from Monday to Friday, from 7 in the morning to 1:30 pm Colombian time ,” he added.
Children between 5 and 16 years old cross daily by bongo , a boat designated by the Government of Vichada, through the Ministry of Education, with all the necessary security measures. Free transportation has been suspended for a couple of months due to contractual differences between the Vichada Education Secretariat and the owners of the boats.
“ We hope that the problems are solved before starting classes, we are already in talks ,” mentioned the owner of a bongo that serves the students. Meanwhile, parents must pay two thousand Colombian pesos for a round trip (22 Bs) for the commercial transportation that transports students over the Orinoco River between both border towns.
“ This daily routine is not easy, but we do it for a better education of our children, as parents there is also a great effort to generate economic income to meet what the children need daily ,” mentions Oscar Farfán, father of a student. from the Antonia Santos school.
The educational crisis in Venezuela and particularly in Puerto Ayacucho, convinced Mayerling Simo of the need to find a stable solution for the education of his daughters.
“ Venezuelan teachers do not attend class because they are looking for other economic income, the educational facilities are in total abandonment, there are no desks, the bathrooms are not useful ,” he laments.
He adds that these and other problems were sufficient reasons to enroll them in Colombia, “ There the education is of better quality, the progress in preparation is noticeable considerably, we as parents also have responsibility and we assume it with commitment .”
The Provea 2023 Annual Report shows how during that period the availability of public education in Venezuela became even more precarious. In 2022, the so-called “mosaic schedule” became widespread, which consists of the organization of face-to-face classes in schools for two or three days a week for each grade, given that the low salaries of teaching staff do not allow them to afford the transfer. daily to your workplace.
According to data from the HumVenezuela platform , 35% of school children attend schools 3 days a week or less, which implied that 18% of children from 3 to 17 years old lost more than 50 days of class during the 2022-2023 school year.
Additionally, a field investigation carried out by the Civil Association With the School highlighted a serious infrastructure situation in 2023: 35.4% of schools have insufficient water service, in 48% the bathrooms are unusable, 59.5 % do not have sewage pipes and 30.4% of the classrooms are in poor condition. According to information from HumVenezuela , 74.6% of schools have infrastructure problems, 73.4% do not have continuous electrical service and 80.9% lack a regular supply of drinking water.
In the midst of this situation, dozens of Venezuelan mothers and fathers have found in the Colombian educational system the stability for the education of their children, which the Venezuelan State denies them.
“ The difficulties of education in Venezuelan territory worsened after the pandemic. The teachers did not comply with the full schedule, and everything was complicated by the mosaic schedule ,” says Migdolio Barros.
In 2023, teaching unions reported that the mosaic schedule was being applied in more than 80% of the country’s schools. Representatives of the sector have highlighted that under this modality the training of students is deteriorating and that it has contributed to accelerating educational deterioration. The majority position of the union is that teachers have a regular work day, attending schools every day of the week with a decent salary.
Sairet Piñate, another representative consulted by Provea, assures that the educational quality at the Antonia Santos Educational Institute is very good. “ All subjects are taught by graduate teachers and specialists in each area, the only difficult situation to study there is having to cross the river daily, however, I risk putting the care of my children in the hands of other people so that receive quality academic preparation .”
“ The food is complete and varied, the facilities are in good condition and in accordance with the educational levels, security is also guaranteed within the campus ,” he adds.
While Piñate expresses satisfaction with these aspects, in Venezuela the School Food Program (PAE), supported by the national government, continues to show coverage and functioning problems. According to HumVenezuela data, this program is present in only 51.2% of the country’s schools, contributing, along with damage to infrastructure and mobility problems, to the increase in school dropout rates in the country.
Low salaries undermine teaching quality
The Venezuelan teacher Nairim Rincones teaches classes in the city of Puerto Carreño, capital of the Department of Vichada in Colombia. She assures that the low salaries received by teachers in Venezuela discourage and limit the possibilities of training to provide better education.
” The lack of economic resources prevents progress in training, the economic crisis led to a drop in educational quality, the teacher stopped concentrating and preparing to teach, they are always thinking about looking for alternatives to meet the needs of the home and family ,” it states.
This situation of low salaries and economic deprivation suffered by Venezuelan teachers worsened after March 22, 2022, when, twenty days after the last salary increase announced by the government of Nicolás Maduro, the National Budget Office (ONAPRE), published a questioned and unconstitutional instruction that eliminated inter-salary scales, violating the achievements embodied in the collective agreements of the public sector, including the teaching sector whose income was reduced by between 50 and 70%.
“ We must reflect to improve the quality of Venezuelan education ,” says Pedro Beja, a mathematics teacher with 16 years of experience.
“ The country’s economic situation and the mosaic schedule result in failing to prepare students who could be potential engineers, chemists, or researchers. But we really have to start by providing educators with employment and economic benefits, which encourage them to fulfill the mission of training the professionals of tomorrow. This way we would prevent our children from having to cross the river to get a better education .”