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Gran Colombia
Simon Bolivar defeated the Spanish and founded the Republic of Gran Colombia including present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, part of Brazil and Panama. -
Nueva Granda
The Republic of New Granada was formed when Venezuela and Ecuador gained independence from Gran Colombia. New Granada then included present-day Colombia and Panama. -
Educational Reforms of the 1850s
The 1850's saw the emergence of the idea of secularization. The national government began giving more power to local governments and in the process essentially forgot about the education system entirely. It was left in the hands of the church to finance and administer the system. Naturally, education suffered during this period. -
United States of Colombia
The Liberal Party renames the country the United States of Colombia, dividing it into nine autonomous states, known as departments. -
Radical Reforms of the 1870s
This educational reform called for free and compulsory education between 6-14yrs old, the centralization of government, and the separation of church and state. Enrollment numbers significantly increased but this led to civil war between 1876-1877. The Catholic priests and parishes shut down schools, they felt that they had been largely responsible for the education system for years and did not appreciate the motion for secularization. The reform was halted due to opposition and lack of funding. -
The 1886 Constitution
In 1886 Colombia established their constitution. It overcame the conflict between church and state saying that educational reforms had to conform to the mandates of the Catholic church. It also stated that primary education would be free, but not compulsory. The 1892 General Law of Education formally decentralized the central government. The central government set structural regulations while the municipalities provided desired teaching materials and methods. -
Panamanian Independence
Panama gains independence creating The Republic of Colombia as we know it today. With the help of the US, work on the Panama Canal officially begins. -
United Nations
Colombian becomes one of the first members of the United Nations. -
Increase in Funding
The 1960s-1980s saw a huge increase in government funding for education. National government responsibility for primary education increased. This drastically improved primary school enrollment numbers however major disparities in education quality continued among rural and urban areas. -
Escuela Nueva
The New School was created as a way to reach primary students living in rural areas of Colombia. It is a non-traditional form of teaching developed in response to the issues of equity in access to education. It has been extremely successful and has now spread to urban areas of Colombia and even other countries. -
New Constitution
Despite the raise in government funds for education, there were still many disparities in quality of education between social classes and regions. The new constitution once again distributed more power to local municipalities. The power to appoint, transfer, and oversee teaching and administrative personnel was transferred from the National Ministry of Education to the municipal mayors. They could make decisions for their own regions in line with the greater structure.