An Overview of the Education System in Puerto Rico
Education in Puerto Rico is viewed as important and is therefore compulsory for students between the ages of six and seventeen years. During Spanish rule education was restricted to Christian subjects and there were relatively few books available in Puerto Rico. It became compulsory for students to learn English in the early twentieth century and English remains part of the curriculum today.
Since 1925 the Insular Department of Education has reorganized itself in a number of ways. More money has been poured into the administrative, teaching staff and supervisory sections of the Education Department. A third of the total government revenue, which is sourced from municipalities and the Legislature of Puerto Rico, is allocated purely for schools and educational purposes.
There are a large number of students in Puerto Rico who attended college and other tertiary institutions once they have finished their secondary education. Compared to other counties, Puerto Rico is ranked sixth in the world for the most students attending some form of tertiary education. The literacy level of school-going students is about 90%. However, there are still not enough schools and educational facilities to provide all school-going children with the same form of education.
Puerto Rico has over 1500 public schools and over 500 private schools. They also have a number of Colleges and Universities. This includes the American University of Puerto Rico, Catholic University, Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, Universidad Del Turabo and the Ponce School of Medicine. There are a number of schools that teach mainly in the English language, such as St. John's, Baldwin, Wesleyan, Robinson, Cupeyville and Parkville.
There are two distinct forms of elementary schools: urban and rural. The urban school curriculum is made up of manual training, agriculture, home economics, health and physical education, English and Spanish. The rural school provides four years of primary education. The second phase of the rural school is pre-vocational, meaning that they provide training or skills that can be used as a trade later on. The secondary phase provides courses in agriculture, industrial arts, gardening, trades, handicrafts and social work.
The purpose of education is to raise the standard of living in rural communities by providing all school going students with the opportunity to gain some type of formal education.
Puerto Rico Department of Education Website (Spanish).
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User Comments & Reviews: 9 Comment(s)
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Meg - 2011-02-19 15:57:04
When we were planning our relocation to Puerto Rico a little over a year ago, I was apalled to find that the public school education in Puerto Rico is so severly lacking. My son went to a charter public school in Southern California for his kindergarten and first grades, which was Spanish Immersion. Half of the students in each class were ESL and half were SSL - my son being SSL. Since he is now bilingual and I believe in the U.S. public school system, I naively thought that the Puerto Rican public school system would be a good continuance of his bilingual education. We enrolled him in what seems to be the only option here, if you can in any way afford it - a private school. Unfortunately, for the native Puerto Ricans, the only ones getting a decent education are the financial elite, whose numbers are few. When I express my outrage to these financially elite native Puerto Ricans, their response is apathy - "There is nothing that can be done, because the politicians are crooked." and "It's been like this for 3 generations - the men sit around drinking while the women work". Rather than calling on the powers that be in the upper echelons of the government who are so poorly managing the educational system for the benefit of all of its citizens to make change, their response is to donate money to the private school so that one child can receive a scholarship and a chance. I believe that it is every childs right to receive a decent education. I recognize that the U.S. public school system is not the top in the world, but Puerto Rico is lagging way behind even the U.S.
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PuertoRico.com Team - 2010-09-28 08:45:13
Thank you for posting your comments regarding education in Puerto Rico. We enjoy hearing from visitors to our site and varying viewpoints provide more insight into this important topic. Best wishes from the PuertoRico.com Team
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Mrs. Madeline Gonzalez - 2010-09-26 23:56:36
I'm a 10th grade English teacher and I've also taught in the USA. Some differences are: no substitute teachers, no school extension for missed days,sometimes due to bad weather, not too much technology but I consider that teaching methology in P.R. is of a better quality. Teachers are very well educated. Individual approaches reach out to benefit according to student's needs. Teaching is one of my passions.
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