Once again, teacher strikes are plaguing Honduras. Although, this time they seem to be confined to the larger, poorer cities like Tegucigalpa and San Pedro. Part of this clamor is over funding, infrastructure and proper equipment in the classroom. Another part is the unions' somewhat incredulous demands for stronger rights in the workplace and on the bargaining table. Even though they are among the highest paid "public servants" in Honduras. Mostly, however, this is about the perceived privatization of public education in Honduras.
Right now the state of Honduran education is such that it is intrinsically tied to the central government. Imagine if all public schools in the US took their directions and funding from Washington, and you'll begin to understand the Honduran arrangement. The desire of Lobo and the Honduran government is to make the education system more decentralized, giving more power to localities, parents and their respective civil societies. In a sense the government is saying, "Screw this, managing education is more trouble than it's worth." Which is true. Teachers, however, believe that this decentralization will lead to the privatization of education, giving them less power and making public education more expensive.
Basically, Honduran schools would begin to look more like they do in the US, where local school districts manage the affairs of their schools with guidance but not the meddling of the federal and state governments. The legislation passes control of education to municipalities, who are free to organize for-profit enterprises or work with nonprofits modeled on a pilot program developed during the presidency of Ricardo Maduro. These actions could lead to greater disparity in the quality of education across the country, but at this point that couldn't get worse. It would also dramatically change the oversight that teachers currently maintain, and force them to be more accountable to their communities and students, not something they're big fans of. These actions would force localities to take on these newfound responsibilities, but since many are not even ready to manage a simple park, managing a school with thousands of students could be an interesting venture.
As always though it is the students who suffer. To start most public school students only receive 4 hours of class a day, a sad amount, which in reality is even smaller due to time reserved for recess, and snacks. Couple that with the amount they have missed due to teachers strike, and it's easy to see how Marco Cáceres can hold such a negative perception of the Honduran education system. Public school students of Honduras are not being given the capabilities to be free and functioning members of society. Freedom is not just having the ability to do something, but having the capability to do something. If students aren't given the tools to be rational and productive, then perhaps Honduras isn't as free as it appears to be.
PS: Been re-reading a lot of Armatya Sen if you can't tell.
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http://www.hondurasweekly.com/a-sure-fire-path-to-failed-statehood-201108113959/
Basically, Honduran schools would begin to look more like they do in the US, where local school districts manage the affairs of their schools with guidance but not the meddling of the federal and state governments. The legislation passes control of education to municipalities, who are free to organize for-profit enterprises or work with nonprofits modeled on a pilot program developed during the presidency of Ricardo Maduro. These actions could lead to greater disparity in the quality of education across the country, but at this point that couldn't get worse. It would also dramatically change the oversight that teachers currently maintain, and force them to be more accountable to their communities and students, not something they're big fans of. These actions would force localities to take on these newfound responsibilities, but since many are not even ready to manage a simple park, managing a school with thousands of students could be an interesting venture.
As always though it is the students who suffer. To start most public school students only receive 4 hours of class a day, a sad amount, which in reality is even smaller due to time reserved for recess, and snacks. Couple that with the amount they have missed due to teachers strike, and it's easy to see how Marco Cáceres can hold such a negative perception of the Honduran education system. Public school students of Honduras are not being given the capabilities to be free and functioning members of society. Freedom is not just having the ability to do something, but having the capability to do something. If students aren't given the tools to be rational and productive, then perhaps Honduras isn't as free as it appears to be.
PS: Been re-reading a lot of Armatya Sen if you can't tell.
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A Sure Fire Path to Failed Statehood-By Marco Cáceres
In a country as poor and as poorly educated as Honduras, education should be the highest national priority, because it is a national security issue. There is nothing more harmful and dangerous than a population that cannot read and write well, think intelligently and creatively, speak clearly and wisely, act decisively and efficiently, and compete capably and creatively against anyone in the world. During the past week, thousands of students in Honduras have participated in protests against a law passed by Congress that is seen as an attempt to privatize and reduce public funding for education. Numerous schools in major cities such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Choluteca, and Siguatepeque have been closed by striking students, supported by their teachers. The Lobo government has moved to dislodge students and re-open the schools.
In a country as poor and as poorly educated as Honduras, education should be the highest national priority, because it is a national security issue. There is nothing more harmful and dangerous than a population that cannot read and write well, think intelligently and creatively, speak clearly and wisely, act decisively and efficiently, and compete capably and creatively against anyone in the world. During the past week, thousands of students in Honduras have participated in protests against a law passed by Congress that is seen as an attempt to privatize and reduce public funding for education. Numerous schools in major cities such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Choluteca, and Siguatepeque have been closed by striking students, supported by their teachers. The Lobo government has moved to dislodge students and re-open the schools.
Regardless of the intent of the education reform law, which does not specifically propose privatization, there is a strong belief within Honduran society that privatization would be the ultimate result, leading to increased costs for students and less pay, benefits and bargaining power for teachers. The problem arises from the view by proponents of the law that the current education system is a failure because it is too centralized and dependent on the government in Tegucigalpa.
The idea then is to decentralize the system by giving more administrative power and responsibility to the municipal governments and to the schools themselves, and encourage parents and local civil society to take more of an active role in the process. Essentially, the law is an admission by the Congress and the Lobo administration that the national government is incapable of running the education system by itself, and that it needs help. So the law seeks to allow municipalities and schools to manage themselves.
It is this "self-management" scenario that many believe will eventually lead to privatization, based on the assumption that municipal governments and schools will not have sufficient management skills and resources, and thus will have to find new sources of talent and revenue on their own and perhaps even contract out the administration of the local education system to private firms. Vuala... privatization.
The students and the teachers seem to think that the current system would be fine if only the government would spend more money to build and adequately equip more schools, and properly maintain those that already exist -- in addition to paying teachers higher salaries (on time and consistently), guaranteeing their retirement benefits, and ceding the right to punish or fire teachers who do not meet certain performance standards or even show up to teach at all.
What is clear is that the current education system is unmanageable. It is unmanageable because the national government is largely dysfunctional and the teachers' unions are too politicized and focused more on striking than teaching. The two fuel and feed off of each other... all made worse by a complete lack of mutual trust and respect. Neither of these realities is going to change overnight, but something is going to have to change, and quickly.
The bottom line is that Honduran students are not receiving a proper education, and in many cases... no education at all. This is poisonous for Honduras. It has the effect of compounding all of its other problems, because ever day that passes, the Honduran population becomes less productive and less able to work -- or even exist -- together. Honduras continues on its path to becoming a failed state.
