Page:Bolivia (1893; Bureau of the American Republics).djvu/31



Public instruction in Bolivia is divided into three general departments, viz: Primary, secondary, and superior.

The schools of the primary department are under the immediate control of the municipal governments to which they severally belong, and constitute the common or free-school system of Bolivia. Their number and location are fixed and their teachers employed by their respective city councils. Attendance thereon is compulsory, but is not enforced against the Indians, who have a strong aversion to education. These municipal schools are in session about eleven months in the year.

The secondary department embraces the colleges and lyceums of the Republic, which are under the control of the universities, and whose professors are named thereby. The course of study in this department covers six years of ten months each.

The superior department embraces the universities of the Republic, in which are taught theology, law, and medicine, and whose course of study covers four, five, and seven years, respectively, of ten months each.

For the better administration of the Bolivian system of public instruction and in order to foster a national spirit of education and encourage the Bolivian youth in the study of the learned professions, the chief authority thereover is vested in a Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, who is a member of the President's Cabinet. To the same end, there is located in the capital of each 2em