Paraguay

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Paraguay in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay)

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay (Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái), is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America. It lies on both banks of the Paraguay River and is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest.

Because of its central location in South America, the country is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América — Heart of America.

The population is 6.3 million.

The capital (and largest city) is Asunción.

The official languages are Spanish and Guaraní. About 75% of all Paraguayans speak Spanish.

Paraguay is divided by the Río Paraguay into the eastern region, officially called Eastern Paraguay (Paraguay Oriental) and known as the Paraná region; and the western region, officially called Western Paraguay (Paraguay Occidental) and also known as the Chaco.

The southeastern border is formed by the Paraná River, containing the Itaipú dam shared with Brazil. It is currently the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world, generating almost all the electricity consumed by Paraguay. Another large hydroelectric power plant on the Paraná River is Yacyretá, a collaborative project by Paraguay and Argentina.

Paraguay is a representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Paraguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the National Congress. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Paraguay consists of seventeen departments and one capital district (distrito capital). The departments are further divided into districts (distritos).

Education in Paraguay

( mostly sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Paraguay and the Ministry of Education and Culture)

Historically, Paraguay has not valued education highly. During the 1954–89 period, education initiatives took a backseat to economic concerns and the task of controlling political adversaries, and teacher salaries fell to extremely low levels. The constitution of 1992 attempted to remedy the long neglect of education: Article 85 of the constitution mandates that no government revenue be designated for educational expenditures. This measure, however, has proven to be impractical and has been largely ignored.

Nevertheless, democratization has been accompanied by a gradual improvement in the education system. Spending on education has increased, reaching 4.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2000, up from 1.7 percent in 1989. Much of the increased funding went to raise teacher salaries and update curricula. Public spending on education has increased rapidly in the first decade of the 21st century and UNESCO now quotes this as 17% of total government expenditure.

Still, Paraguayan children spend far less time in school than in most other South American countries.

Schools in Paraguay average about 700 contact hours annually, compared with 1,500 in countries such as Chile. Students are required to attend school from ages seven to 13, and surveys indicate that Paraguay has a net primary school attendance rate of 92 percent. Public education is free to all, but dropout rates remain high.

In 2003 Paraguay had an estimated literacy rate of 94 percent, with very little differential between men and women (94.9 percent to 93 percent, respectively). Illiteracy rates exceed the national average in rural areas. The 2001 census found that 15 percent of women and 10 percent of men living in rural areas were illiterate.

The national secondary enrolment rate is 53%, in spite of near universal primary enrolment, according to a 2006 study by the Ministry of Education.

In November 2010 the Ministry of Education and Culture published a new Mission and Vision statement [Spanish], which includes the following: Mission:The fundamental mission of the Ministry of Education and Culture is tizar guarantee a quality education to help improve the lives of all people. Objectives

• Develop, implement and optimize educational reform at all levels and forms of education.
• Optimize use of resources by the MEC
• Improve the competence of human resources.
• Develop and implement a quality management system.
• Achieve effective levels of internal and external communication.
• Promote the development of decentralization.
• Encourage and develop educational research, science and technology.
• Manage programmes of technical and financial cooperation, both national and international.
• Promote the use of social media for education.
• Improve the implementation of monitoring and evaluation throughout the system.

Schools in Paraguay

Schools in Paraguay are described as:

• Educación Inicial y Escolar Básica [Nursery & Primary School]: the age for school entry is 6 and the primary phase lasts for 6 years. The pupil/teacher ratio in primary schools is 18.7:1.
• Educación Media [Secondary School]: the age for transfer from primary is 12, and a full secondary course lasts 5 years. However, the duration of complusory education is only 7 years [from age 6 to 13], so pupils may leave after one year of secondary education.

There are both public and private schools - the section on Administration and Finance below outlines the differences. Secondary schools have a confusing variety of titles:

• Colegio [or College, in the case of the small number of foreign schools, notably US]
• Escuela Nacional
• Academy
• High School
• Centro de Educación Superior [these are sdecondary schools, in spite of appearing to provide tertiary education]
• Centro Educativo

Most are secuar, but there are a number of religious foundations - largely Catholic, but including occasional Evangelistic and Lutheran schools. Some schools, but not all, are speciailist, in which case the specialism is often indicated in the school name - e.g. Escuela Nacional de Comercio.

Attendance is on a shift system - Morning / Afternoon / Evening. Some schools open for only one shift, some for two and a small number for all three.

There is an incomplete list of secondary schools in Paraguay, with specialisms. The Ministry of Education and Culture does not appear to have a complete list.

Further and Higher education in Paraguay

There are two phases of education to describe further and higher education:

• Educación Superior [Tertiary – likely to be at an institution labelled a University]
• Educación Permanente [Adult education – lifelong learning]

In 2010, the level of enrolment in tertiary education was 28.5% [Source: UNESCO]

Universities in Paraguay

Until the 1990s, the state National University and the Catholic University served Paraguay’s entire population. As part of the educational reforms of the 1990s, the government created 16 new universities and the first decade of the 21st century has seen an explosion of new university approvals, with a further 35 constitued between 2000 and 2011. The List of Universities in Paraguay on Ministry of Education website now shows a total of 53 universities.

There are private universities as well as public universities. Of the 53 institutions officially approved as universities by the Ministry of Education and Culture, only 8 are public - the other 45 are all private.

Many of these [especially the newer ones] appear very small and several are linked with other universities, both elsewhere in Hispanic America and in Spain, and in one or two cases, the USA. Currently [2011] only 39 have accessible websites, with two of these under construction.

Several of the universities offer courses completely online and these are noted under Virtual Initiatives in post-secondary education below.

Polytechnics in Paraguay

Although there are no Polytechnics separately identified in Paraguay, many of the newer small universities share the characteristics of Polytechnics. Some are titled 'Universidad Tecnica' or 'Instituto'.

Colleges in Paraguay

Although all the 53 listed universities in Paraguay stipulate completed secondary school qualifications [Bachillerato] as their entry requirement, many of the courses offered are similar to the vocational training programmes found in UK further education colleges.

Education reform

In 2010, discussions were held with UNESCO on improving teacher training; the role of technology, both as a teaching tool and a subject matter for students; secondary education reform and higher education.

Post-secondary

There has been a rapid expansion of the tertiary education system over the past 15 years, as noted in the Universities section above.

Administration and finance

Schools

Type: PU – Public, PR – Private, PS – Private-Subsidized

Quality assurance, inspection and accreditation

Schools

There are two parallel secondary school 'diplomas' which provide entry into tertiary edyucation: the Bachillerato Científico and the Bachillerato Técnico

Paraguay is increasingly participating in international surveys. The most recent study which has commenced is LAMP - the UNESCO Program Monitoring and Evaluation of Literacy, which seeks to gauge the levels of literacy (reading literacy and numeracy) of the population 15 years and older, by implementing a survey. This initiative is supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, together with the Organization of Iberoamerican States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) and the Directorate General Statistics, Surveys and Censuses (DGEEC) and has supported by the Institute for Statistics (UIS).

LAMP is part of the Flagship Programme "Paraguay Read and Write," which is part of the goals involved in the Social Development Policy "Paraguay for All 2010-2020". Its results will feed into the design and implementation of public policies that seek to improve the education and living conditions of the population.

LAMP seeks to provide statistical information on the literacy levels of young people and adults, which will allow public and private agencies diagnose and make decisions to adapt and improve formal systems of education, literacy programs and lifelong learning as well as design public policies that take into account the real needs of the population.

It should be noted that Paraguay will be the first Latin American country to conduct the national study LAMP, along with 6 other countries in the world.

ICT in education initiatives

Discussions took place in 2010 with UNESCO on the role of technology, both as a teaching tool and a subject matter for students.

The Ministry website [Spanish] has a growing ICT section - MEC Digital: this link is to the basic education section, but each level of education has its own section, with frequent circulars and access to multimedia resources.

Virtual initiatives in schools

There do not appear to be any virtual schools in Paraguay, although US virtual schools [e.g. Wilostar3D] market actively.

There is an increasing range of ICT resources accessible through the MEC Digital website.

Virtual initiatives in post-secondary education

The Autonomous University of Asunción (Universidad Autónoma de Asunción, UAA) was funded in 1978 as a college of business management, but in 1991 attained the title of University. It is located in Paraguay and has a department of distance learning. Information is sketchy.

American University of Paraguay ecampus is linked with the University for Development of Science and Technology of Panama, and through the Project Group SA has developed a learning platform for the development of undergraduate and graduate studies both fully online and part-tutored. Online courses include:

• Business Administration
• Government
• Pharmacy Management
• International Trade
• Accounting
• Commercial Engineering
• Psychology
• Education Sciences
• International Relations
• Law
• Theology
• Nutrition

In addition to undergraduate courses there are agreements with ALT - Brazil for online Masters courses in:

• Psychoanalysis
• Medicine
• Alternative medicine
• Philosophy
• Theology
• International Law
• Education

University of Chaco learning platform offers online courses in:

• Degree in Accounting and Auditing.
• Bachelor of Business Administration.
• Bachelor of Commerce.

Three Frontiers International University offers '100% online courses' in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, through its Center for Graduate, CEPADE, located in Spain, represented by the Spanish consultancy E - Training.

University of Cono Sur has a portal for online learning for teachers.

References

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