Public education: The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico grants the right to an education to all of its citizens. Therefore, public schools are free at the elementary and secondary levels. Classes are provided in Spanish, with English being taught as a secondary language, and as a mandatory class.
School structure: Concrete with windows that have aluminum blinds. No air conditioning in any of the classrooms, which needless to say is torture! The heat is unbearable until the “cooler” months in November, December, and January.
Uniform: Required in all public schools.
Growing up during my teenage years we lived in a small town in Puerto Rico. The town has one or two public elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.
“Yes, the Department of Education still uses the interlocking schedule. For instance, a school in Barceloneta established the interlocking schedule to be able to receive during the morning up to 690 elementary school students and, in the evening to welcome the nearly 800 middle school students.” – Quote from Gladys Cancel, ESL Teacher, Puerto Rico
“We, the teachers have to do wonders with a half hour of class. Since the regular schedule is 50 minutes. From the reflection during the first 10 minutes of class, up to meeting with all of the criteria established by the department of education. It is mandatory to start a class with reflection, and continue with the beginning, development and conclusion. Also, knowing what kind of strategies will be appropriate for the different types of learning outcomes. Above all know we need to know how to manage our time so we don’t deviate from the subject because of lack of time. It’s when you have 50 minutes and it’s not easy, imagine just having half an hour. It is extremely important to integrate the strategies and techniques developed in the learning process so that learning is optimal.” – Quote from Gladys Cancel, ESL Teacher, Puerto Rico
In my research about “interlocking”, I came across a resolution project presented to the Puerto Rico senate looking for a resolution to this problem. You can read it here. (It’s in Spanish).
Furthermore, I found these interesting statistics on the education in Puerto Rico: Click here for the source.
- “According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, ninety-five percent (95%) of public school students in Puerto Rico graduate at a sub-basic level while sixty percent (60%) do not even graduate.”
- “A recent study by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico showed that about 40% of all the students that enter tenth grade in public schools in Puerto Rico drop out and never finish secondary education.”
- “Over half of the students entering college level institutions in Puerto Rico, never graduate: only 41% of 4-year students in public universities and 33% in private institutions get a diploma.”
It's so interesting to read this Frances. Many of the schools here do the same type of scheduling so that they can accommodate more students. I didn't know this about Puerto Rico – 60% not graduating at all is much higher than I would have guessed. Thank you for sharing – I'm looking forward to reading the other posts in this series.
Wow, here I thought that it was only in Puerto Rico that they had this schedule, which up until now it really didn't dawn on me; until I researched the statistics for this post. Aren't the statistics scary?
This is so sad! I am sorry!!! Maybe there are other factors forcing students to drop out of school? It looks like the teachers are very good and trying their best regardless of the flaws in the system.
Cheerful yellow colors on the school buildings 🙂 And no air conditioning, so hard on kids.
Wow, the teachers in Puerto Rico are heroes! They really must work hard to serve their students in such a difficult system! Thanks for this look at schools in PR. It really does show that we need to give more resources to schools so that they can accomplish the essential task of educating the future generations.