By Alexandra Ulmer
June 16, 2016
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-kids-teachers-ditch-school-as-crisis-engulfs-venezuela-2016-6LA FRIA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Mariangel Caceres' teachers, whose salaries do not buy enough food to live on, stopped showing up for classes early this year.
The state school in the verdant Andean state of Tachira in Venezuela also had to cut back on providing meals due to nationwide food shortages.
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Between 30 percent and 40 percent of Venezuelan teachers fail to show up at school each day, mainly because they are standing in lines for food or medicine, their biggest union estimates.
Pupils' attendance is also dropping because children have not eaten, know there will be no food at school, or must line up and help their parents shop, according to the union.
Frequent power and water cuts are disrupting classes, and schools have been closed on Fridays for about the last two months.
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Supporters of the government accuse opponents of exaggerating social problems as part of a campaign to undermine socialism in Venezuela.
They point to a 16-percentage-point rise in the enrollment rate, increased literacy and funding increases during the 1999-2013 administration of former President Hugo Chavez, who declared education a priority for his self-styled "beautiful revolution."
Under successor Nicolas Maduro, however, social gains have fast evaporated during a brutal recession exacerbated by a drop in oil prices, critics say.
They cite insufficient funding for schools and a lack of qualified teachers due to low salaries or emigration.
Venezuela has released little hard data in recent times and does not participate in the globally recognized Program in International Student Assessment tests, so it is hard to gauge the state of education with statistical precision.
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Educators are also jumping ship.
Mathematics teacher Douglas Mena, 32, stopped giving morning classes in March because he made twice as much money fishing in Venezuela's vast Maracaibo Lake.
"I'm not the only one," he said after a recent shift. "There are many of us who have started re-selling goods on the informal market, baking cakes, cleaning houses, anything."
Many professionals across Venezuela have turned to such jobs to hedge against inflation and make it easier to line up for food.
But supermarket lines can stretch into the thousands, and re-sale prices have skyrocketed, so many are getting by on mangoes and starch, or skipping meals altogether.
"I've opened my eyes," said Edgar Barrios, 38, a former "Chavista" in La Fria who for three years has allowed a Monsenor Marco Tulio Ramirez Roa class to assemble in his garage.
