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Colombia EDUCATION
The education sector has grown explosively at all
levels since
the early 1960s. By 1987 primary-school enrollment had
more than
doubled, secondary-school enrollment had grown sixfold,
and
university enrollments had increased fifteen times. The
literacy
rate was approximately 88 percent in 1987. Private schools
accounted for 15 percent of the enrollments at the primary
level,
40 percent at the secondary-school level, and 60 percent
at the
university level. But the principal reason for the rapid
expansion
of the education system was the massive increase in public
outlays
for education.
Government funding for education increased fivefold in
real
terms between 1966 and 1986. In 1987 federal education
expenditures
represented between a quarter and a third of the national
budget.
The country's rapid urbanization fostered the overall
expansion of
education from the 1960s through the late 1980s. Various
modifications in national legislation regulating education
increased national government responsibility in education
financing. Among the key modifications were the
nationalization
laws that in 1960 transferred financial responsibility for
primary
education to the national government and in 1975 did the
same for
secondary education. In addition, mechanisms for
revenue-sharing
between the regions and the national government were
developed.
Despite considerable progress, however, major disparities
in
education quality persisted among social classes and
regions, as
well as between the public and private sectors and between
rural
and urban areas.
Data as of December 1988
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