Economic Crisis In Venezuela Spills Into Classrooms
When does a country become so poor that it can longer allow its people to afford elementary education? This is the condition of Venezuela under the current economic crisis which they are facing since middle of last year. While more than 30,000 schools open throughout the country this season, most of them are facing a massive dearth of resources which include electricity, water, and sanitation. But this is not the only cause for the lack of students in the classrooms.
Who Are The Victims?
As economic crisis worsens, schools empty in Venezuela
The common people of Venezuela are victims of an extremely inflated economy. As a result of this, even the most common items such as pencils and notebooks are priced at sky high rates which they can no longer afford. School uniforms and shoes have also become commodities which pose a burden to the regular middle-class parents. In such a condition, these parents are readily not sending their children to the schools and rather choosing to home school them.
According to some teachers the few students who are turning up for school are the ones who are in shattered conditions due to the economic crisis as they cannot even afford three meals a day at home. Since government run schools in Venezuela offer free meals for students. these students are turning up so that they can eat and hardly any of them are interested in the education in times like these. Higher schools have and even more dearth of students as most of them are trying to find thrift jobs to support their families. And the schools are also understaffed and without proper resources. Certain schools report that they have electricity only for 6 hours a day and no water for half the days of every week.
Why Did It Happen?
One can only wonder what has brought down the economy of this country to such levels even though there are no wars brewing in recent times. According to economists this is a result of the sudden changes introduced to the economy to suit it towards a socialist fashion. They claim that these changes have left the value of the Venezuelan currency highly inflated and therefore the middle class and lower economic classes are suffering
massively up to the point where even education is now being considered as a secondary resource.
The President of Venezuela however has a different perspective towards this crisis. He claims that this is a result of an economic war which is being carried out by various adversaries. He also claims that these adversaries are all backed by the United States government. However, he has refused to open up on the details of this so called ‘economic war’ and what benefits the U.S.A. may be receiving from it. Although he has said it is certain that the inflation is a direct result of this war. But at the same time, it is worth mentioning that the United States government has done as little as possible to help its neighboring countries in distress.
Schools in Venezuela have always had a problem with the number of students, however this season it has hit new lows as in many schools almost 99% of students did not turn up for their academic sessions.
Why Dozens Of Venezuelans In Peru Want To Return Home?
The Latin American states have been facing social and economic devastation from times immemorial, primarily owing to their long history of colonial subjugation. And in the current times the result of this devastated condition is brought out in the form of large-scale population migration. One such case is the Latin American country of Venezuela, from where a large number of the population migrated to Peru in an attempt to escape the poor conditions of their country.
What Happened In Peru?
Jorge Gonzales and his wife, Kenia, carrying their boys, wait in line for breakfast, after crossing the border into Peru on Friday before the deadline for new regulations that demand passports from migrants. Photo Courtesy by pressherald.com
However, upon arrival in Peru, which had opened up its borders to a large number of such refugees. But since the scale of refugee migration in Latin America is one of the single largest in modern history, this also ended up destroying the livelihoods of the people of Peru. Most of the migrants were once again left without jobs or were severely underpaid for their services. People with professional medical and engineering degrees were being forced to serve as waiters and cleaners, and some were being forced to work up to 12 hours a day just to have enough money for food and shelter.
Peru is a rather small country of which a large part of the community is built up by migrated Venezuelans. However, with the numbers rising by another 300,000 this year, there have been resentment among the locals regarding the refugee intake, and as a result strains of racism towards Venezuelans have sprung up within the locals of Peru, which is also the case with Brazil.
Government’s Role
The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has taken up a repartition policy according to which the migrants who now come back to the country will be provided jobs in government sectors. While opposing politicians are calling it a bluff, thousands of Venezuelan migrants from all over the world and Peru are currently lined up outside airports and embassies trying to find a way back home to their motherland.