Diagnostic Research on the Educational Situation in the Tropic of Cochabamba

Abstract

This research-diagnostic study on the “Educational Situation in the Cochabamba Tropics” was commissioned by the Tropics Plan, under the CORDECO-GTZ SUBDESAL Agreement and the CCFTC Coordinating Committee.

Aware of the importance of the topic for comprehensive educational policy decisions, but also of the time constraints—two months—and of the difficulties posed by the overall context of the area, the work was undertaken by establishing “relevance” as the main axis of analysis for each of the “problems” to be examined.

The purpose of this task was to find, analyze, and systematize the most relevant and substantive educational information, using public sources, unpublished sources, and the field observation notes that I was able to collect.

All consultants were also asked to go beyond the report of research results. We were requested to outline aspects related to the “potentialities of the area” and to project guidelines and strategies for future actions.

The institutional coordination responsible for the area of Education, Health, and Basic Sanitation prepared a working framework that established the limits, categories, and scope within which the research data to be included in the document to be submitted would be analyzed.

The working hours generously shared with the body of Regional Supervisors of Rural Education in the Tropical Chapare, and especially the fieldwork carried out with Professor Mario Benjamín Vallejo, made possible an in-depth analysis of the region’s formal educational situation.

The interviews held with the Regional Director of Literacy and Adult Education and with the Director of CINEP-Rural made it possible to orient the educational diagnosis of the non-formal actions that have been developed, and continue to be developed, in the area.

In short, the aim was to understand the current formal and non-formal educational situation by investigating the real participation and coverage of the region’s Educational Services (...)