Characteristics of Centralized Education in Latin America: The Case of Venezuela.

The article explores the characteristics of centralized education in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela. It comparatively deals with some problems related to the centralization-decentralization question by highlighting the organizational structure of public education in Venezuela. The concepts of centralization and decentralization focuses on the distribution of decision-making authority. The Venezuelan Constitution established guidelines along with which the educational system must be structured and administered. All citizens are assured the right of free public education. The country's Ministry of Education, reportedly, is divided into various subsystems, two of which are of special attention in this article: the Primary and Normal School section, and the Secondary and Higher Education section. The educational system of Venezuela is often criticized as being bureaucratic. The national curriculum is written in the form of elaborate lesson plans, one for every school grade. The range of decisions at the school unit level is very narrow. All the educational organizations usually shift from centralized to decentralized administration in order to improve the quality of their decisions as well as provide a rapid response capability in the face of certain types of problems.