|
The difference between school in the countryside and in
the cities is great. The last decades of the civil war have
also left their mark on the education system. Primary school
is compulsory for 6 years from the children are 7 years.
Although Spanish is the official language, since 1960 it has
been emphasized that children should be able to receive
initial education in their mother tongue. The high school
lasts up to 5 years, divided into two steps. There is a high
degree of privatization of education in Guatemala. At the
upper secondary level, approx. 47% of pupils in private
schools. In 2001, 85% of the children in primary school
started, the corresponding figure for the relevant age group
in high school was 28%. According to UNESCO estimates,
approx. 30% of the adult population illiterate in 2001. Check topschoolsintheusa for test centers of ACT, SAT, and GRE as well high schools in the country of Guatemala.
There is one state university in the country, the
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, founded in 1676, and
several private higher education institutions.
1944 Democracy - for the first time in the country's
history
General Jorge Ubico Castańeda was the last representative
of the soldier generation from 1871 and in 1931 was elected
president of the Liberal Party. He was overthrown by a
public uprising in 1944, which also received support from
the United States because Ubico used close relations with
Nazi Germany. The so-called "October Revolution" printed
elections in which reformist politician Juan José Arévalo
was elected president. He initiated an economic and social
reform process.
Arévalo's reign was marked by political and economic
opening. In 1945, women were given the right to vote - apart
from the illiterates - and the same year the first farmer
trade union emerged. As part of the reform process, Arévalo
implemented a land reform that also affected the UFCO. The
North American company had nationalized large areas of land
that were uncultivated and which it had in reserve. The move
was characterized by the US government as "a threat to US
interests". It was in the midst of the Cold War, and the
United States now launched a fierce campaign against Arévalo
and his successor Jacobo Arbenz's democratically elected
governments.
John Foster Dulles was the United States Secretary of
State and at the same time shareholder and lawyer for the
UFCO. He now put pressure on the Organization of American
States (OAS) to condemn Jacobo Arbenz's government reforms.
His brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the CIAand former
director of UFCO. He now organized an invasion of Guatemala
from neighboring Honduras, "to bring down communism." The
North American-led bloody invasion brought Arbenz to a fall,
and the UFCO immediately recovered its lands that would
otherwise have been handed over to landless peasants. The
new military dictatorship got North American shadow
ministers on all posts. The country was thrown into a
military dictatorship that stretched for over 35 years. The
dictatorship held elections well enough in 1970, 1974, 1978
and 1982, but each time was characterized by extensive
scams, only the extreme right wing had the opportunity to
stand and the military candidates were favored.
|
