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Campus of the Matías Delgado University
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
The priority of the Ministry of Education is to support
families. In particular, to contribute to the support of
accessing and retaining (in the educational system)
those children whose families are suffering from
poverty by providing them with cost free uniforms,
shoes and scholastic material, to invest in creating
a harmonious, healthy and nice educational
environment, and to generate programs that provide
for school food and relevant improvements to school
infrastructure.
The government of El Salvador has focused its
attention on secondary education enriching the
school syllabus with elements that emphasize
organization, development and business skills from
an interactive perspective.
Education in Previous Decades
In general terms, education in El Salvador was
characterized by having very low levels of school
coverage and lack of efficiency. Registration rates
for grammar school was one of the lowest in Latin
America, especially in the rural areas, with a rate
of 60% in 1986. Efficiency indicators showed low
levels of finishing the school year and high levels of
repeating years and/or dropping out.
The main causes of low school coverage were
mainly two: the suspension of school activities due
to the civil war and lack of resources. Education
was neglected as a topic of public interest, as it had
remained an area of conflict between the teachers’
unions and the state.
After more than a decade, the situation is now
different. Education has become a priority issue
in the economic and social policy of the country.
Development indicators on education show a
promising future. Qualitative changes are specially
noticed in the management of the educational
system and in the new legislation.
The core program that energized and characterized
the educational reform of El Salvador in the 1990s
was the program EDUCO, education with community
participation.
Education