Community-Managed Schools Programme (EDUCO) - El Salvador

Source: Government of El Salvador

In addition to the formal schools there are non-formal primary schools. These non-formal EDUCO (Educacion con participacion de la comunidad) schools that give both pre-primary and primary education were established especially in the rural areas.

The EDUCO program, established in 1992, built on the demonstrated willingness of communities to participate and, while providing technical assistance to build capacity, delegated the management of new rural pre-school and primary schools to parents and community organizations. In the course of developing the program, the Ministry began to work, for the first time, with local NGOs that supported program implementation.

The present EDUCO (Educacion con participacion de la comunidad) schools are managed autonomously by an elected Community Education Association (Asociacion Comunal para la Educacion or ACE) drawn from the parents of the students. In EDUCO schools, ACEs take a central role of administration and management; ACEs are contracted by MINED to deliver a given curriculum to an agreed number of students. The ACEs are then responsible for contracting and removing teachers by closely monitoring teacher’s performance, and for equipping and maintaining the schools. The partnership between MINED and ACEs is expected to improve school administration and management by reflecting local demand needs more appropriately. In the future, MINED intends to introduce community management into all traditional schools.

• Institutional structure: ACEs enter into a one year renewable agreement with the Ministry which is governed by a formal outline of rights and responsibilities between Ministry and community. The elected committee is primarily made up of parents of attending students.

• Responsibilities: ACEs are the direct employers of teachers. They select, contract, hire, monitor and retain or dismiss teachers. They monitor teacher performance and attendance and ensure that teachers provide regular feed-back to parents on children’s progress. ACEs are also responsible for procuring classroom space; maintaining and furnishing schools. With respect to the curriculum, ACEs consult with teachers and help provide teaching materials.

• Teachers: Teachers at EDUCO schools are on average six years younger than teachers at traditional schools (at 26 years on average) and have attended 75% of the in-service training courses of teachers in traditional schools. However, surveyed parents believe that EDUCO teachers do as good a job if not better than teachers in traditional schools being more aware of student attendance and performance and also using more innovative practices. Their average attendance record is also better. The down side is that there is a high turnover of EDUCO teachers, with many looking for greater job stability in the traditional system.

• Financing: ACEs receive direct transfer of funds from the Ministry and the Ministry provides the ACE with documentation to set up bank accounts. Funds are transferred through an additional financial section of government. This appears to add a level of complexity which has resulted in delays to teacher pay. ACEs are also permitted to raise other funds through negotiations with other government institutions or international organisations. The ACEs present no direct costs to parents although parents are expected to contribute voluntary service to schools.

• Targeting the poor: Support for EDUCO schools is targeted at the most needy communities. Data from the Ministry of Health as well as education performance data is used to identify these communities.

• Broad Political Support: EDUCO has been supported by all political parties. Support from teacher unions has been garnered through an intensive dissemination campaign of the program results in reaching poor students.

• The Ministry of Education: Within the MoE, the EDUCO Central office has direct reporting responsibilities to the cabinet of the MoE. The coordinating unit oversees basic policy and technical design; promoting, supervising and evaluating the program; coordinating the program with MoE, training for teachers principals and supervisors; working with regional offices and in-service training/tech support to regions.

• EDUCO Regional offices. Regional offices provide technical and administrative support for schools. They are responsible for the direct provision of supervision, training; curriculum development & programs for school improvement. This office is accountable to the director of the regional education department.

• Other: ODEPOR (planning) focuses on capacity building; improving planning and policy; and central/ regional/ local management issues.

• National Supervision System. Members are deployed by departments and districts and serve as a link between MoE and schools. In addition, they work to promote community participation by providing: administrative and technical guidance to ACEs; technical assistance to teachers; information on EDUCO and the MoE to the community through the ACE; facilitating the development of Parents Schools (see below).

• The Parents School Program. A program designed to be run by EDUCO teachers to provide monthly classes for parents to help them support their children at home and to help parents learn more about school management. Currently, teachers receive no additional payment for the program.

[Top]