Education in Chile

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A Chilean student from the same high school, in
1994.

An old woman reading, supported by Chilecalifica.

Education in Chile is divided in preschool, primary school, secondary school, and
technical or higher education (university).

Contents

1 Levels of
education

2 Primary and secondary
levels

2.1 Basic

2.2 Secondary

2.3 Education
costs

3 Admission to
university

4 See also

5 References

6 External
links

[edit]
Levels of education

The levels of education in Chile are:

Pre-school: For children up to 5 years old, optional for 1
grade.

Primary school: (Enseñanza básica) for children from
5–13 years old, divided into 8 grades.

Secondary school: (Enseñanza media) for teenagers from
13–18 years old, divided into 4 grades.

Secondary school is also divided into:

Scientific-humanities approach: From Tercero Medio (11th grade)
in high school, students can choose a major in either science (math, physics, chemistry, biology), or
humanities (literature, history, philosophy), which means
they will get more lessons in the area of their choice.

Technical-Professional education: Students receive 'extra' education in
the so-called 'technical'
areas, such as electricity, mechanics, metal assembly, etc. This second type
of education is more typical of public schools (Liceos), to give students
from poorer areas a chance to work right away after completion of
highschool, as a way to fund a possible higher education career
later.

University: a system divided in public or 'state' universities and a
private system.

[edit]
Primary and secondary
levels

According to the secondaty thing it will help prevent diffrent thingsconstitution,
primary and secondary school are mandatory for all Chileans.

The Chilean state provides an extensive system of education vouchers
that covers almost 90% of primary and secondary students. This extensive voucher
system is based on a direct payment to the schools based on daily attendance; in
practical terms, if the students moves to a different school, their attendance
payments move too.

Schools are either public (nearly all owned by the municipality of the commune in which the
school is located) or private, which may receive government subsidies.

[edit]
Basic

The reform of 1965 have diffrentestablished Basic Education as the initial
cycle of schooling. Before that, by 1920, the Chilean legislation had
established 4 years of minimum mandatory education. By 1929 the minimum had
been increased to 6 years. Finally, in 1965 a compulsory Basic Lev 2 cycles
and 8 grades, ideally designed for ages 6 to 13.

[edit]
Secondary

The Secondary School is divided between Scientific-Humanist (regular),
Technical-Professional (vocational) and Artistic, always with a duration of
2 years. The first two years are the same for the three kinds of schooling,
while third and fourth years are differentiated according to the orientation of
the school.

The schools offering Technical-Professional programs are denominated:

Industrial Schools: electricity, mechanics, electronics, informatics,
among others.

Commercial Schools: management, accountancy, secretary and similar.

Technical Schools: fashion, culinary, nursery and the like.

Polyvalent Schools: offering careers of more than one of those listed
above.

Compulsory education only covered the 8 years of the Basic Cycle, but
since May 7 of 2003, a constitutional reform under the government of president
Ricardo Lagos established
free and compulsory Secondary Education for all the inhabitants of Chile up to
18 years old, placing on the State the responsibility of ensuring access to
it. This ensures thirteen years of compulsory schooling, which was an
unprecedented milestone in Latin America at the time. As of 2008, the LGE
(Ley General de Educación), which is currently pending, provides and
guarantees 14 years of free compulsory education.

The coverage of the Chilean Educational System is practically universal, like
in most highly developed countries, showing enrollment rates that represent that
reality. Enrollment in Basic Education reaches 99.7% of children between 6 and
14 years, while the coverage of secondary education enrollment is 87.7% of
adolescents between 15 and 18 years.

[edit]
Education costs

Chilean students exposing a PowerPoint
about America, in Escuela Barreales,
2008.

Public schools and subsidized private schools with voluntary tuition may
charge a fee for the admittance process, which is fixed by law. The fee's cost
was CLP$3.500 in 2008 (less than US$7). The annual price of enrollment is zero
for primary school and cannot be higher than CLP$3.500 for secondary school. A
tuition fee may be charged only in secondary school, but it is completely
voluntary for the parent.

Subsidized private schools with mandatory tuition have the same admittance
and annual enrollment costs as in public schools, but they are allowed to charge
a mandatory monthly tuition which cannot be higher than 4 USE (Education Subsidy
Unit). This was equal to CLP$60,748.86 in 2008 (about US$116).

Private schools are free to set what they will charge, which may include,
admittance, enrollment, tuition costs, as well as a fee for being selected into
the school (paid once, and can be quite high in some exclusive schools) and a
payment to the so-called Parents Center (Centro de Padres).

There is a third type of public school, the so-called Delegated
Administration schools, which are owned by the State but managed and financed by
private corporations. These cannot charge for admittance and the annual
enrollment cost is the same as in public schools. They are allowed to charge for
tuition, but this is wholly voluntary for the parent. The cost is 1.5 UTM
(Monthly Tax Unit) annually, which was CLP$451,824 (less than US$865) in
2008.

There is a fourth type of public school, administered by the Ministry of
Education and completely financed by the State. Currently, there is only one
such school: Escuela Villa Las
Estrellas in Antártica.[1][2]

[edit]
Admission to
university

Students can choose between 25 state universities and over 50 private ones,
which are increasingly growing in number. However many of the newer private
univerisites are considered of inferior quality when comparing to the older traditional
universities. The difference in quality is accompanied by large differences
in prestige rankings and PSU scores for admittance.

There is one single and very transparent admission system to all state
universities and to several of the oldest private universities, which integrate
the so called Council of Rectors (Consejo de Rectores). The system,
called PSU, an acronym for Universitary Selection Test (Prueba de Selección
Universitaria), is very similar to the U.S. SAT Reasoning Test. The design
and the correction of the test is performed by the University of Chile,
while the system itself is managed by the Ministry of Education (Ministerio
de Educación).

The test consists in two mandatory exams, mathematics and language, plus
several other specific exams, like chemistry, physics, biology, history, etc.,
depending on what career the student wishes to apply. The cumulative grade point
average achieved during secondary school is also taken into account in the final
admission score. Every university assigns different weightings to the results of
the various exams.

Many students who come from low-income families find that their chances of
admission to universities are diminished. However, many talented students who
can not afford school qualify for scholarships, either from the government or
from the universities themselves. For students who obtained high enough scores
to enter a public university or to an accredited private university, there is a
system of government backed loans which is offered through several commercial
banks, but the amount and terms of the credits not necessarily fit the needs of
the students.

According to media and official statistics, in 2006 a total 241,390 students
took the PSU test.[3]

[edit]
See also

2006
student protests in Chile

Ministry of
Education of Chile

[edit]
References

^ [1]

^ [2]

^ Universidad de Chile

[edit]
External links

Ministry of Education

EducarChile

Chilean Universities and Higher School

v • d • e

Education in South America

Sovereign
states

Argentina ·
Bolivia ·
Brazil ·
Chile · Colombia ·
Ecuador ·
Guyana ·
Panama1 ·
Paraguay ·
Peru ·
Suriname ·
Trinidad
and Tobago1 · Uruguay ·
Venezuela

Dependencies
and
territories

Aruba1 /
Bonaire1 /
Curaçao1
(Netherlands) · Falkland
Islands / South Georgia and the South Sandwich
Islands (United
Kingdom) 2 ·
French
Guiana (France)

1
Territories
also in or commonly considered to be part of North
America.  2
Territories
also in or commonly considered to be part of Antarctica.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Chile"

Categories: Education in
Chile

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This page was last modified on 28 November 2010 at
21:57.

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