Hispanic America

Regional overview

Hispanic America is very clearly defined as the supraregion comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations. For related concepts see Category:Central America, Category:South America and Category:Spanish-speaking countries.

Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_America lists these countries as:

1. Argentina
2. Bolivia
3. Chile
4. Colombia
5. Costa Rica
6. Cuba
7. Dominican Republic
8. Ecuador
9. El Salvador
10. Guatemala
11. Honduras
12. Mexico
13. Nicaragua
14. Panama
15. Paraguay
16. Peru
17. Puerto Rico
18. Uruguay
19. Venezuela

It is a debatable point whether in cultural/political terms, Puerto Rico should be included - since it is effectively a colony of the US.

Most mainland countries of Central America and South America thus belong to Hispanic America, with the major exception of Brazil and the minor exceptions of some former colonies of Netherlands, France and UK.

Country reports from Hispanic America

This supra-region report is currently (August 2011) based on 10 country reports:

Four of these are detailed reports:

• Colombia
• Mexico
• Paraguay
• Uruguay

Six are briefer reports:

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Panama
• Peru
• Venezuela

Re.ViCa also has brief country reports, which have not yet been updated, for:

• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Puerto Rico

Education in Hispanic America

All the countries in the region profess to see education as a priority in achieving social and economic progress. Many countries have ambitious aspirational mission and vision statements on their Ministry websites - e.g. Paraguay, where the vision specifically includes references to promoting both ICT and social media for educational purposes.

The table below compares a range of education indicators across Hispanic American countries - the data is drawn from UNESCO Institute for Statistics:

Table below not yet converted using Word to wiki Country Average years of schooling of adults Duration of compulsory education Duration of education > Primary level Duration of education > Secondary level Education, primary completion rate % Enrolment ratio > Secondary level  % Tertiary enrolment % Education spending (% of GDP) Education spending (% of total government expenditure) Argentina 8.8 9 6 6 99 79.1 48.8 4.0 13.8 Bolivia 5.6 8 6 6 101 68.1 35.7 6.3 19.7 Chile 7.5 9 6 6 95 74.5 35.7 4.2 18.7 Colombia 5.3 8 5 6 97 56.5 23.3 5.2 15.6 Costa Rica 6 10 6 5 92 49.2 16.0 5.1 22.4 Ecuador 6.4 10 6 6 101 48 - 1.0 8.0 El Salvador 5.2 9 6 6 87 39.3 17.5 2.9 20.0 Guatemala 3.5 11 6 5 74 26.2 8.5 - 13.0 Honduras 4.8 6 6 5 79 - 14.7 - - Mexico 7.2 10 6 6 - 59.7 20.7 5.3 - Nicaragua 4.6 6 6 5 76 35.5 11.5 3.1 15.0 Panama 8.6 6 6 6 97 62.2 34.9 4.5 9.0 Paraguay 6.2 9 6 6 89 46.7 10.1 4.4 11.4 Peru 7.6 11 6 5 99 61.5 28.8 3.0 17.1 Uruguay 7.6 10 6 6 91 69.9 36.1 2.6 7.9 Venezuela 6.6 7 6 5 92 50.4 28.5 - 17.0 Means 6.3 8.7 6 5.7 91.2 55.1 24.7 4.0 14.9 Range 3.5 –8.6 6-11 6 5-6 74-101 26.2-79.1 8.5-48.8 1.0-6.3 8.0-22.4

In the table notably high scores are highlighted in green and notably low scores in red.

• Average years of schooling for adults: a useful measure of the country's starting point for current and future education development. Note the high scores for Panama and Argentina and the very low scores for three Central American countries - Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.
• Duration of compulsory education: whilst most countries currently make this 8 - 11 years, note the high scores for Guatemala (starting from a very low adult base) and Peru and the low scores for three Central American countries (Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama and the below average score for Venezuela.
• Years of primary education: universally six years, except in Colombia.
• Years of secondary education: again, six years in the majority of countries, but in none of them is more than the first three years compulsory.
• Primary completion rate: still below 80% in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, but around 90% or above in all other countries.
• Enrolment rate for secondary education: there are wide variations here, with notably low transition rates (below 40%) in three Central American countries: Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador contrasting with transition by more than two thirds of young people in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.
• Tertiary enrolments: again, there are wide variations, with scores of 10% or below in Guatemala and Paraguay, contrasting with almost half the population involved in tertiary study in Argentina. However, tertiary enrolments cover all education, vocational and professional training beyond the school system; whilst many will be studying at degree level, many others will be undertaking vocational training at intermediate or technician levels.
• Education spending: there are quite wide variations in education spending, both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of total government expenditure. Several countries have extensive provision of private schools, colleges and universities and it is not entirely clear from the statistical data how this is accounted for. Note, however, the low scores in both columns for Ecuador, which is not one of the more economically advanced countries and Uruguay, which is one of the most prosperous. By way of contrast, El Salvador only spends 2.9% of GDP on education, but this amounts to 20% of total govenment expenditure. Bolivia has notably high scores on both measures.

Schools in Hispanic America

All countries in Hispanic America feature both state and private schools, though private education is not strongly advertised in Venezuela, presumably for political reasons. Most private schools are Catholic foundations, reflecting the dominant religion across the region, but in some countries where there are significant immigrant populations from northern European countries and north America there a number of schools are sponsored by other Christian denominations - e.g. Lutheran and Evangelical schools in Uruguay and Paraguay.

• Kindergarten and pre-primary education is available in many countries, much of it provided by private organisations. The inicial year in Uruguay is the only country where any of this is part of compulsory schooling.
• Primary schools are not divided into separate infant and junior schools in any of the Hispanic American countries. There are often considerable differences between the facilities in rural and urban schools and a greater concentration of private schools in urban areas - e.g. in Uruguay, where there is also a significant number of private schools (both primary and secondary) for children with special educational needs.
• Secondary schools vary widely across the region, both in titles and organisation. As noted in the table of statistics in the section above, the end of compulsory schooling occurs from the end of the first year of secondary (Nicaragua and Panama) to the end of the third or fourth year of secondary in most countries (Only in Peru does compulsory education span the full secondary phase). In most countries there is a school leaving certificate at the end of the compulsory phase (see Qualifications and Acreditation) but the same secondary establishment provides continued optional schooling.

Uruguay is an exception: there are a number of lower secondary schools (Establecimientos de Educación Media Básica), with 237 of these (almost 35%) in Montevideo. Outside Montevideo there are also 61 Escuelas con Ciclo Básico Rural which offer a basic general education in rural areas. Vocational education also commences in separate schools at the start of the secondary phase, with three types of vocational establishments: 21 Centros de Ciclo Básico Tecnológico; 90 Escuelas de C.B.T. y Técnicas and 23 Escuelas Agrarias. None of these are private establishments.

Upper secondary schools in Uruguay (Establecimientos de Educación Media Superior) are largely housed i the same buildings as the Establecimientos de Educación Media Básica, but some are separate.

Secondary schools in Paraguay illustrate the wide variety of titles and organisations in secondary eduction across the region: they may be Colegios [or Colleges, in the case of the small number of foreign schools, notably US]; Escuelas Nacionales; Academies; High Schools; Centros de Educación Superior [these are secondary schools, in spite of appearing to provide tertiary education]; or Centros Educativos.

References

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