El Salvador

Basic Data
Official Country Name:	Republic of El Salvador
Region:	North & Central America
Population:	6,122,515
Language(s):	Spanish, Nahua
Literacy Rate:	71.5%
Academic Year:	February-October
Compulsory Schooling:	9 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	2.5%
Foreign Students in National Universities:	473
Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 1,191,052
	Secondary: 143,588
	Higher: 112,266
Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 97%
	Secondary: 34%
	Higher: 18%
Teachers:	Secondary: 9,255
	Higher: 5,910
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 96%
	Secondary: 36%
	Higher: 18%

History & Background

The republic of El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, with a total area of 21,041 square kilometers (8,124.59 mi.). It is bounded on the northwest by Guatemala, on the north and east by Honduras, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. The local government is divided into 14 departments and 262 municipalities including cities, towns, and villages. The capital is San Salvador. The median age in the country declined from nineteen in 1950 to seventeen in 1975, and 41.3 percent were projected to be under the age of fifteen by 2001. The population for the year 2000 was 5.5 million. El Salvador is not only Central America's smallest country, but it is also the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere, with an average population of approximately 298 people per square kilometer. Most of the land is devoted to agriculture and the population is concentrated in industrial and agricultural areas centered on San Salvador, which attracts people on account of better job opportunities and higher salaries. The population is divided into: Mestizo 90 percent; Indigenous 50 percent; and European descendants 5 percent.

Spanish is the national language. The daily use of Indigenous languages has faded out. There has been some academic interest in preserving the old Nahua language of the Pipils, but Nahua is not spoken in the street, except in a few Indian villages in Morazán and Chalatenango. El Salvador is predominantly Roman Catholic, but a number of other churches are also represented.

Cuscatlán, the original name of El Salvador, dates to as early as 2000 B.C. The Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century. El Salvador was dominated by the Pipils, who were descendants of Nahua and Aztec (two Mexican tribes). The Pipils came to central El Salvador in the eleventh century. In 1540, Pedro de Alvarado conquered Cuscatlán and the region came under Spanish control. It was designated a province of Nueva España and placed under the direct control of the Capitanía General de Guatemala.

The Dominican order arrived first to the Provincia de San Salvador, later the Franciscans, and later still the Mercenary Orders. Churches and convents created by faith and the commitment of the religious orders were founded in the sixteenth century. Their prosperity was concentrated on agricultural labor and the teaching of arts and informal skills. It was during this period that the first public library, school, and university were created.

Education during this period began with the convent schools. The convents in the Provincia de San Salvador were more modest than those in the Capitanía General de Guatemala, but they used the same methods and educational tendencies. The frailes received from the Indigenous people a series of histories, chronicles, and historical narratives that have disappeared because of fires or earthquakes. During the Colonial period the schools were only for the Spanish children. The Indigenous received instruction, but this was limited to the teaching of Catholicism in their native languages. Later this instruction was improved, but in the classroom they were never recognized as being in the same category as the white students.

The first school was founded in 1548 by Lic. Francisco Marroquín. From the beginning, the education of the male was more important than that of the female; her instruction was considered not only less important, but dangerous. Although many women from privileged families enjoyed better conditions, colonial women's lives were mainly committed to difficult and inferior jobs. The convents began the liberation of women. For the first time in their history, women received instruction in reading, writing, and in improving their minds along Christian precepts. An example of women educated during this period are: Juana de Maldonado, Juana de Arévalo, Ana Guerra de Jesus, Catarina de Jesus, Isabel de Bustamante y Naba, María Ana de León, Lucía Villacorta de Cañas, Josefa de Barahona, Antonia Fagoaga y Aguilar, Felipa de Aranzamendi, and Manuela Antonia de Arce.

Independence from Spain came on September 15, 1821. On July 1, 1823, El Salvador joined Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica to form the Provincias Unidas de Centro América. However, regional and ideological conflicts beset the union, which was finally dissolved in 1840. In the following year, El Salvador adopted a constitution as a sovereign independent nation. The republic was formally proclaimed on January 25, 1859.

Turbulence, political instability, and frequent presidential changes characterized Salvadoran history during the second half of the nineteenth century. The land had been settled in large landholdings. The Indigenous were pushed off their land or ejidos (community land) and were forced to work on the Spanish plantations for miserable wages or no wages at all. Anastasio Aquino, chief of Nonualcos, led an unsuccessful Indigenous rebellion in 1833 with the idea that "Land is for those who work it." A hundred years later, Feliciano Ama, the last chief of Nonualcos, led another rebellion called La Matanza (The Massacre).

Relative stability was evident in the area of education from 1900 to 1942, but so was turmoil. The dictatorship of Gral. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez brought a period of constant military rule for almost 13 years. During this period, 95 percent of El Salvador's income came from coffee exports. Union activity in the industrial sector during the 1920s brought strikes and demands for better wages, but when coffee prices plummeted following the stock market crash of 1929 the situation between union workers and the landowners became unbearable. Landowners, no longer tolerating union activities, incited the government to take action. In January 1932, Agustin Farabundo Marti, the founder of the Central American Socialist Party, led an uprising of peasants and the Indigenous people. Under Hernández Martínez, the military responded by systematically killing 30,000 people. Farabundo Martí and other leaders were arrested and executed by firing squad. Martí's name is preserved in the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

In the 1960s, Colonel Julio Adalberto Rivera became president, creating a favorable political environment for constitutional reform, the creation of the Common Central American Market, improved civil rights organizations for workers (including teachers), and a new educational system. The minister of education was Walter Beneke, who was responsible for the Educational Reform. For the first time, televised instruction was used in the classroom. Students throughout the country were able to obtain the same instruction for the entire curriculum. Originally, this system was overseen by experts in this pedagogical technology, but by 1972 this system was increasingly run by native personnel. General student ability and reading scores increased, although there was little difference between television and non-television classes. Behavioral objectives were introduced and students showed increased skills in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

The students under this program were enthusiastic, but teacher enthusiasm waned somewhat after the initial uncritical acceptance. Teacher attitudes toward their profession as a whole and its attendant problems remained poor. Student aspirations became increasingly high, perhaps unrealistically so, but educational reform was working, as evidenced by the percentage of students going on to higher education. At the same time, Liberation Theology created an environment for preference to the poor. The social conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s cannot be explained plausibly just by population density and the socio-political balance between town and country, since the education of the masses played a significant role. Rural unions, which often originated from the cooperatives and communal associations sponsored by the church, posed little ostensible threat to the established order. That is, until the rural unions' support of the Preferential Option for the Poor brought about a rise in violence.

The era of Popular Education occurred in 1980-1992. The Civil War affected the mental health of children who were born and raised during the twelve years of the war, and exposed them to different levels of violence. Children from industrial neighborhoods who came from displaced villages reported higher war experiences and lower mental health, while children who experienced the highest personal-social effects of the war showed the poorest mental health and they were most likely to have difficulty in imagining the future. Popular education focused on children and women and their potential for societal change, and proved to be particularly relevant for women. By using popular education, the insurgent movement sought to fill the education gap created because most combatants and civilians were peasants, few of who had much opportunity for schooling in the communities where they grew up. The most sustained experiences of popular education occurred in FMLN-controlled zones of the country. Popular education was as much a political and organizational process as an educational process. The focus of the Christian-based communities was to work toward their conception of social justice and political change. Its work can be summarized as: Christian-based communities in the 1970s; refugee camps on the Honduran border in the 1980s; and repopulated communities in FMLN-controlled zones from 1980 to 1992.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

The Constitution adopted in 1983 rested in the executive power of the president, who appointed a cabinet to help run the country. The minister of education was responsible for all matters related to education. The Constitution of El Salvador declared that elementary education was free and compulsory for all children between the ages of seven and fifteen. In 1960, the compulsory education was extended three years more than had been the case under the old educational system, with students having to complete nine years of schooling. The public school system was controlled by the government. The curriculum for elementary and secondary levels was uniform throughout the country. The provision of education, however, suffered from rural-urban dichotomy. A number of national education plans developed by the ministry of education have recognized the inequality between the rural and urban education systems, but none have succeeded in bringing rural education up to the urban level.

Educational System—Overview

The aims of the educational program designed in the 1960s differed significantly from the previous educational system; the objectives were democratization, introduction of technology into the classroom, and the preparation of students for achieving social and economic development. Democratization led to the rapid expansion of schools. During the 1960s, the government was able to open as many schools as possible under the program Una escuela por día (One school per day). This expansion was based on the idea that education is not a privilege, but a right of every Salvadoran. As a result, there were significant increases in enrollments at the elementary level, which reduced illiteracy rates from 72.0 percent in 1930 to 49.0 percent by 1988, and 28.5 percent by 1995.

Preprimary & Primary Education

The educational system begins with the preschool or "kindergarten," most of which are located in cities rather than rural areas. The children, ranging in age from five to six years old, receive instruction for two years, three hours per day, and five days per week. Most of these schools are under government supervision, although there are private preschools. The main objectives are to prepare the children for entry into elementary school, to inculcate in them good work habits, and to develop oral and listening comprehension skills.

The school calendar runs from February to the end of October, five hours per day, Monday through Friday. Graduation takes place on November 5th. Elementary education begins at the age of seven and last for nine years. From the seventh grade, students receive classes in English as a second language as a part of the curriculum; it remains a requirement throughout the rest of their elementary school years. Curriculum stresses the teaching of formal Spanish grammar as well the fundamentals of science and mathematics, and six hours are devoted to sports and cultural activities.

Most primary schools are not coeducational. However, the majority of classes in grades seven to nine are mixed. Both men and women are teachers at this level. Student-teacher ratios are high in public schools. With an insufficient number of teachers, classrooms are over-crowded. In 1993, there were 3,961 primary schools with an enrollment of 1,042,256 primary students. In order to best utilize the buildings, there are two groups of students: one group attends in the morning from 7:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; the other attends from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Some schools have adult evening classes from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Among school-age children, the total student enrollment in 1980 was 65 percent; in 1993, 70 percent; and by 1995 it had risen to 79 percent in public primary schools.

Only about 8 percent of the country's total enrollment in middle secondary education was rural children; the majority of the illiterate population reside in rural areas. The high degree of rural illiteracy reflects several factors, at the most basic level, the number of teachers and schools provided for rural areas. In the 1980s, only 15 percent of the nation's teachers served in rural areas, although these areas accounted for 64 percent of the primary schools. Of the primary schools available to rural children, approximately 70 percent offered education only below grade four or five. By contrast, 90 percent of the urban primary schools offered grade five and above.

There was a high attrition rate in school attendance in rural areas as students left school to earn wages or work at home. Although school attendance generally began at about the age of eight or nine, approximately 70 percent of all male workers began employment before the age of fifteen, many by age ten or earlier, thus permitting only one or two years of schooling. Many girls also dropped out of school at an early age in order to assume domestic responsibilities, such as caring for younger siblings, working in the fields, or tending animals. Therefore, only 20 percent of the rural school-age children reached grade six, and only a few percent reached grade nine. Efforts to improve this situation in the rural agricultural areas were somewhat discouraging, in part because of the political tension during the Civil War and post-war period. In some situations, teachers, mainly women, faced threats if they supported political change. Many rural landowners seemed to prefer an uneducated rural population on the grounds that better-educated workers would expect better wages and be more likely to organize and lobby the government for reform, particularly land reform.

In the 1960s, Educational Reform integrated the middle school into elementary education. Aimed at preparing students for the secondary level, the curriculum, different from grades seven to nine, consists of history, geography, mathematics or algebra, science, English, physics, computer programming (available only at private schools), sports and cultural activities. Students who pass gain the primary school certificate and are allowed to progress to secondary educational institutions.

Secondary Education

Secondary education, for children from the age of sixteen, lasts for three years. Of children in the relevant age group, only 21 percent were enrolled in secondary schools in 1996. The curriculum at the secondary level was developed by the government to be uniform throughout the country. The provision of the secondary level suffers from the same rural-urban dichotomy as the public school system. Only a small percentage of students reach grade twelve and receive their bachillerato (equivalent to a high school diploma). Secondary-level enrollment among the rural population is about 8 percent of the country's total enrollment in secondary education; in grades ten through twelve it drops to about 1 percent. Although both men and women teach at this level, the majority are men. The school year runs from February through November. In general, the curriculum prepares students for either employment or further study. At the secondary level there are different programs: academic or general, technical, pedagogical, and commercial.

Academic Secondary Study: The academic secondary study has two programs, physics/mathematics and chemistry/biology. All students are expected to take the same courses in the first year and carry about 30 instructional hours. In the second year, students start taking different courses according to their program. For example, the science/mathematics program students would take the same classes as other students, and later add specialty classes such as vocational physics/mathematics, and, for science students, the instructional classes include vocational chemistry and advanced biology. In the third year, the number of courses is reduced, but the vocational classes are increased. For example, seventeen hours per week are dedicated to the specialty. Also, all students in the third year take the following common courses: letters, demography, English, and physics/mathematics. After completion of the three-year cycle of secondary education, students sit an examination administered by the government; those who pass are awarded a high school certificate. These programs are offered specially in private schools or Catholic colleges for upper class students. Most of the students continue to the university level.

Commercial Secondary Study: This program consists of three years of instruction. The curriculum at this level is vocational and is aimed at preparing students for employment or further vocational training programs. The program focuses on three areas of study: economics, business administration, and accounting. The certificate is earned after three years upon passing the final examination. The students either enter the labor market or a postsecondary institution. The curriculum of the commercial secondary studies is computer science, economics, accounting, typing and shorthand, among others. The total instruction hours per week are 30.

Technical Secondary Study: Technical secondary study is only offered to low income students at the National Institutes. There are three programs: general mechanics, general electrics, and auto mechanic. All these programs are based on three years of attendance, from Monday to Friday, 40 hours per week. In the first year, all students are expected to take the same courses. There are no electives until the second year, when each program introduces special courses according to each specialty. After completing the three years cycle of secondary education, the students take the government-administered examination.

Pedagogic Secondary Study: This program is offered for students who want to be preschool or elementary teachers. If they want to specialize in secondary education they need to attend the university level. The curriculum in this program is focused on pedagogy, children's literature, psychology, sociology, philosophy, methodology, and teaching techniques. After the second year, students spend a great of deal of time working on the practical, supervised by teachers. At the end of the third year, students take two examinations, on science and pedagogical material, administered by the government. Those who pass are awarded the diploma of education. Those who fail may take the examinations again.

Transitional Education: The aim of the Technological Institute is to make the transition from study to work simple and to make education relevant to the social and economic needs of the country. It also targets students who cannot afford tuition at the university level. Study at this institute, located in Santa Tecla, lasts for two years, 40 hours per week. The program offers technical industry, civil engineering, architecture, mechanics, and decoration courses.

Higher Education

There are three public and twelve private universities. The most important universities are the University of El Salvador authorized in 1841 and The Central America University (UCA) in San Salvador. After the war, the participation of women became very significant. In 1993, some 77,369 students were enrolled at universities and other higher-level institutions; approximately 51 percent of these students were female. Attaining a university education is still the key to status in Salvadoran society. For students from low-income families, the University of El Salvador, with its enrollment averaging 30,000 students, offers them the best opportunity. The enrollment age is between 19 and 23. The National University requires an admission examination, and offers all fields of study; the Central America University specializes in the humanities. Between 1950 and 1980, the country's urban population grew from 18 percent to 44 percent of the total, an average increase by regional standards; that of the city of San Salvador increased from 116,000 to 700,000 (this, too, by no means exceptional in Central America). Both men and women teach at this level, and there is strong competition between their numbers. The school year is divided in two semesters (circles) and runs from January to December. After completing the requirement for their specialty, students write and defend a dissertation. Successful completion enables them to earn the Licenciatura (Master's degree).

Teaching Profession

Traditionally, teachers were recruited from the high school level, but, after 1930, they were recruited from the graduating classes of the Escuelas Normales (teacher training schools). After 1965, under Educational Reform, the Escuelas Normales developed into part of the secondary educational system. Most of the teachers for universities and higher levels hold a Master's degree or doctorate.

Summary

By the late 1990s, El Salvador was financially stable and had recovered from the economic crisis of the 1980s. However, there are many challenges to be met in the future. For example, for the vast majority of rural residents, unemployment, under-employment, and extremely low wages combine to keep the standard of living low and the quality of life barely tolerable. The educational system has emphasized elementary and secondary education in urban areas. Even the ministers of education have recognized the inequality between rural and urban education, but none have succeeded in bringing rural education up to the urban level. The earthquakes of January 13 and February 13, 2001 destroyed many rural schools. It is imperative that the government builds more schools and improves the lack of adequate facilities, equipment, and personnel in rural areas. According to the Opicina de Referencia de Población (PRB), the population in El Salvador is estimated to reach twelve million by the year 2030. The departments with the most population are: San Salvador with 2,240 people per square kilometer, La Libertad with 413 people per square kilometer, and Sonsonate with 367 people per square kilometer; compared with 97 people per square kilometer in Chalatenango. El Salvador needs to create a politically aware population in order to reorganize. High levels of poverty, agricultural stagnation, environmental damage, and increasing social crime and violence are all issues that the country urgently needs to confront.

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—Marta A. Umanzor