Awakening the Giant of Youth in Venezuela

[Joanne98]

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2102
The revolutionary student movement in Venezuela is divided into countless tiny organisations, often with bases in just one faculty or one campus. One of these organisations, the Popular Revolutionary Movement of Fire (MPR Fogata), in a statement issued in June called for “the revolutionary student movement of Venezuela to strengthen the forces in favour of unity”. The statement argued: “Now we are presented with the possibility of deepening these forces and gradually making that a reality.”


This could be viewed as the same optimistic sentiments that exist in sections of splintered revolutionary student movements in many countries in the world. However, in Venezuela there is a difference. Here the government is leading the revolutionary process and is actively participating in the process of forging unity in all sectors — not only of students — through pushing for and facilitating the establishment of popular councils: communal councils, workers’ councils and student councils, among others.

The MPR Fogata statement argues that uniting the student movement “can only come about through the student councils”, which need to be “broad, diverse and plural but with a class orientation. This last criteria is only possible through transformation at the core of the National Education Model that still exists in the majority of our educational institutions at all levels and by the people taking over the universities.”

This is not only a statement of revolutionary ideals — these ideals are at the centre of a massive transformation led by the Venezuelan government. Through the social program Mission Alma Mater, which aims to dramatically expand and improve the country’s higher education system, and proposed changes to the Organic Law on Education, the government will provide the framework for the people to do just that.

On May 24, President Hugo Chavez announced the creation of 28 new universities across the country as part of Mission Alma Mater. In its first phase, the mission will run from 2007-12. “There will be 11 new national universities, in addition to 13 regional ones, and four new technical institutes”, explained Chavez, who also announced a pay increase for university staff and retirees and the payment of back pay owed by the state. Venezuelanalysis.com reported that the president also announced increased funding for university cafeterias, computers and an extra 10,000 scholarships, and the increase of all scholarships to US$100 per month.

Considered the most important reform, and certainly the one most bitterly opposed by the right-wing Venezuelan opposition, is the plan to abolish the internal entrance exams for universities, making it possible for any high school graduate to enter university. The exams have typically limited university to graduates from better-resourced schools or those who can afford private tutoring.

This reform also directly attacks the corrupt bureaucracy that is entrenched within university apparatuses, particularly of the prestigious four public autonomous universities. Under Chavez, many of the former government functionaries and politicians of the opposition have retreated to these bureaucracies.

One of the ways the opposition seeks to maintain control of the universities is through corruption of entrance procedures, allowing entrance to anyone who can pay. The price tag at the Central University of Venezuela is between 1.5 million and 5 million bolivars (around US$500-$1700) according to the June 13 edition of Diaro Vea.

Until now, faced with the control of the old universities by the corrupt bureaucracy, the government has focused on attempting to implement its revolutionary model of tertiary education through the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, which is providing access to university to tens of thousands of students from poor backgrounds. The current push indicates a shift from attempting to bypass the pro-capitalist bureaucracy in the education system to direction confronting those forces. http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2102