Education in Venezuela is free and compulsory between ages 6 and 15. Also, the State guarantees the free access to public secondary and university teaching. The evolution of literacy has had an upward –and specially quick—trend during the 1950-1995 term. The literacy rate in the inhabitants over 10 years of age rose from 51.2% in 1950 to 91.1% in 1995. The fundamental principles of the Venezuelan educational system are contained in the Constitution and in the 1986 Organic Law on Education. This objectives of this law, in line with the constitutional principles, are the full development of the individual’s personality, the formation of capable citizens for the life and for the exercise of democracy, the promotion of the culture and spirit of human solidarity.
