Education and the consolidation of democracy in Latin America : innovations to provide quality basic education with equity

This paper examines three innovative educational programs which have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to provide quality education to even the poorest children of Latin America. Fe y Alegria is a Catholic NGO which provides formal and non-formal education to poor children in 12 countries. Its basic method is to create partnerships between itself, the local community, and the state -- typically, the Ministry of Education pays teacher salaries; the local community participates in the construction and maintenance of the school, and Fe y Alegria trains and supervises the teachers, manages the school, and coordinates school activities. Escuela Nueva in Colombia is an outgrowth of the "unitary" experimental schools of the 1960"s, and relies on self study guides, a flexible promotion system, and a modular curriculum to allow students to work at their own pace. Escuela Nueva students do about the same as students in traditional schools, but require fewer teachers (one per grade). Finally, Programa de las 900 Escuelas is a comprehensive effort undertaken by several NGOs and the Government of Chile to address educational disparities in the 900 poorest schools in Chile. This effort includes teacher training, curriculum development, and physical plant components. The report concludes that several common factors have contributed to the success of these initiatives: (1) involvement of the local community, both in pedagogy and in school leadership; (2) strict fiscal management; (3) sensitivity to conflicting political interests in the education system; (4) an ability to learn from past experience; and (5) teacher training.