Education in Argentina

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Education in Argentina is a responsibility shared by the national government, the provinces and federal district and private institutions, though basic guidelines have historically been set by the Ministry of Education. Closely associated in Argentina with President Domingo Sarmiento's assertion that "the sovereign should be educated" ("sovereign" referring to the people), education has been extended nearly universally and its maintenance remains central to political and cultural debate.

[edit] History

Devoto Public Library, Buenos Aires. Argentines enjoy a network of over 1500 public libraries, besides private ones and bookstores.

Education in Argentina has an accomplished yet convoluted history. There was no effective educational plan until President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1868–1874) placed emphasis on bringing Argentina up-to-date with practices in developed countries. Sarmiento encouraged the immigration and settling of European educators and built schools and public libraries throughout the country, in a programme that finally doubled the enrollment of students during his term; in Argentina, Teacher's Day (on September 11) commemorates his death. The first national laws mandating universal, compulsory, free and secular education (Law 1420 of Common Education) were sanctioned in 1884 during the administration of President Julio Roca. The non-religious character of this system harmed the relations between the Argentine State and the Catholic Church, leading to resistance from the local clergy and a heated conflict with the Holy See (through the Papal Nuncio).

[edit] Achievements

In spite of its many problems, Argentina's higher education managed to reach worldwide levels of excellence in the sixties. The Latin American docta can claim three Nobel Prize winners in the sciences: Luis Federico Leloir, Bernardo Houssay and César Milstein the highest number in Latin America surpassing countries economically more developed and populated as Ireland or Spain. Burdened by an ongoing brain drain since then, science and technology in Argentina still maintains a busy program of research and development.

The Argentine population at large benefits from a relatively high level of educational attainment, by regional standards. Among those age 25 and over, the highest level attained, per the 2001 Census, was distributed thus:

^[1]

[edit] Characteristics

Education in Argentina is divided in three phases. The first comprises grades first to ninth, and is called Educación General Básica or EGB (Castilian, "Basic General Education"). EGB is divided in three stages, called ciclos ("cycles"):

1. EGB I: 1st, 2nd and 3rd school years
2. EGB II: 4th, 5th and 6th school years
3. EGB III: 7th, 8th and 9th school years

Once the EGB is completed, the student finishes the mandatory schooling period and can choose to start secondary education, called Polimodal, which usually last two to three more years. EGB is mandatory to all students, although desertion is high in some parts of the country and laws intended to prevent this are rarely enforced.

The third stage is college education.

Education is funded by tax payers at all levels except for the majority of graduate studies. There are many private school institutions in the primary, secondary and university levels. Around 11.4 million people were enrolled in formal education of some kind in 2005:

^[2]

[edit] Primary education

The ubiquitous white uniform of Argentine school children; it is a national symbol of learning.

Secondary School in Bragado, Prov. of Buenos Aires. Argentina's secondary schools belong to a national system.

The University of Buenos Aires Law School.

Accepted between ages 6 and 14. Primary education comprises the first two EGB cycles (grades 1–6). Because of the system that was in place until 1995 (7 years of primary school plus 5 or 6 of secondary school), primary schools used to offer grades 1–7, although most are already converted to accept 8th and 9th, others chose to eliminate 7th grade altogether, forcing the students to complete the 3rd cycle in another institution.

[edit] Secondary education

Secondary education in Argentina is called Polimodal ("polymodal", that is, having multiple modes), since it allows the student to choose his/her orientation. Polimodal is not yet obligatory but its completion is a requirement to enter colleges across the nation. Polimodal is usually 3 years of schooling, although some schools have a fourth year.

Conversely to what happened on primary schools, most secondary schools in Argentina contained grades 8th and 9th, plus Polimodal (old secondary) but then started converting to accept also 7th grade students, thus allowing them to keep their same classmates for the whole EGB III cycle.

In December 2006 the Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Congress approved a new National Education Law restoring the old system of primary followed by secondary education, making secondary education obligatory and a right, and increasing the length of compulsory education to 13 years. The government vowed to put the law in effect gradually, starting in 2007.^[3]

Argentina's network of vocational schools, many under the auspices of the National Technological University (UTN), have historically given students viable alternatives, as well.

[edit] College education

Argentina maintains a network of 39 National universities, financed by the Ministry of Education and tuition-free, since 1946. Private and parochial universities are also abundant, numbering 46 among the active insitutions; but, their cost often reserves them only to more affluent students, and they enroll about a sixth of the collegiate student body (see University reform in Argentina and List of Argentine universities).^[2] In all, over 1.5 million students attend institutions of higher learning in Argentina, annually (roughly half the population of college age).^[4]

[edit] References and external links

Sarmiento Teachers' College: President Sarmiento established the first of these Escuelas Normales

• Argentinian Government website for international students
• Learning in Argentina
• Ministry of Culture: Argentine Education
• Statistics and more statistics about education in Argentina
• Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnologia
• National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation
• Science and Education in Argentina
• Argentine Higher Education Official Site
• The Argentine Education System

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