More empty desks in Venezuelan classrooms amid economic crisis

Thousands of children and young people have dropped out of Venezuela's schools and universities as the oil-rich nation's economic crisis deepens. Juan Maragall, education secretary in the northern coastal state of Miranda, told EFE that in his jurisdiction alone, roughly 10,000 students have walked away, representing 9 percent of primary-school enrollment and 13 percent of the secondary-school population. "If ... you project the figures onto the national level, some 560,000 students might have abandoned school this year," he said, attributing the phenomenon largely to the rising cost of food and public transportation. Maragall said that a third of the schools in Miranda are in areas suffering from endemic violence, creating a climate of fear that prompts many parents to keep their kids at home. More…