According to Educationvv, education is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. In 2001, there were 15,984 primary schools in Venezuela with 4.3 million students. The number of teachers was 185.7 thousand people. Issues of secondary and vocational education are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Secondary and Vocational Education. The number of secondary and vocational schools in 2000 exceeded 2000. Approx. 400 thousand people The largest universities: Central University of Venezuela (Caracas, founded in 1725), Simon Bolivar University (Caracas, 1967), Zulia State University (Maracaibo, 1891), University of the Andes (Merida, 1810), University of Carabobo (Valencia, 1958). Of the private universities, the largest is the Catholic University Andres Bello (Caracas, 1953), one of the three largest in the country. The Institute for Higher Studies in Management, founded in 1965 in Caracas, received wide recognition.
In accordance with the Law on Science, Technology and Invention (2001), the national system of science, technology and invention includes the Ministry of Science and Technology, higher and vocational schools, private and public research institutions, information networks; enterprises producing high-tech goods and services; individuals engaged in R&D. The Ministry receives and summarizes information from the institutions included in the system, formulates policies, plans and priorities for scientific and technological development, allocates resources for R&D at the request of their executors. In turn, R&D executors financed by the ministry are obliged to transfer to it from 0.5 to 5% of their profits for the implementation of scientific and technological development plans. Large public and private enterprises must invest during the financial year in educational and scientific and technical projects carried out in their field of activity, from 0.5 to 20% of the profits. Importers of goods and services necessary for the implementation of the national plan for science, technology and invention may be granted tax and customs benefits. In 2000 per 1 million people. Venezuela accounted for 194 R&D researchers. R&D spending amounted to 0.34% of GDP. Universities are important scientific centers – the Central University of Venezuela has research centers in 11 scientific areas. The largest research institutions include the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (established in 1955) and the National Institute for Agricultural Research (2000), which has branches in 11 states of the country.
From the pre-Columbian period, petroglyphs, rock paintings, ceramic vessels and ritual figures symbolizing fertility have been preserved.
The first monuments of literature, dramaturgy, architecture, professional visual arts and music belong to the colonial period. Compared with other regions of Latin America, Venezuela in the 16th-17th centuries. remained a remote province. Baroque became widespread only in the 18th century.
On the literature of the late colonial period and the 19th century. was influenced by the patriotic journalism of F. Miranda and S. Bolivar. Classicism, and later romanticism, determined the poetry of A. Bellew. The leading painter of the early Republican period was H. Lovera.
The main trends in the culture of the 19th century. – classicism and romanticism, in line with which costumbrism was formed (from the Spanish “el costumbre” – custom), represented in literature by the work of R. Maria Baralta, in the painting of C. Fernandez. In the last quarter of the 19th century in the literature, the so-called. Spanish American Modernism. In architecture in the 2nd floor. 19th century classicism was replaced by eclecticism, neo-gothic and neo-Moorish style.
Prose of the socio-critical direction of the con. 19 – 1st floor. 20th century was reflected in the works of M.V. Romero Garcia and R. Gallegos. Socio-political themes of the 1950s and 60s in the literature is associated with the name of M. Otero Silva. A major figure in the literature of the 20th century. is a poet, prose writer, essayist A. Uslar Pietri. Since the 1970s the works of prose writers and poets are marked by a desire for neoavant-gardism and postmodernism.
Until the 2nd World War, neo-colonial style with elements of classicism prevailed in architecture. R. Carlos Villanueva was the greatest Venezuelan architect of the 20th century who developed the principles of the international style. In the 1980s-90s. features of hi-tech and neo-art deco appear in architecture.
Leading painters early. 20th century were E. Boggio and A. Reveron. In con. 1930s – early. 1940s the work of E. Poleo, Bracho, S. Rengifo (he was also a playwright), who were influenced by Mexican monumental painting, began to take shape.
Among non-objective artists, the most famous are A. Otero, J. Soto, K. Cruz-Diez, who began working in the 1950s. Since the 1960s J. Borges became one of the leading painters and draftsmen.
The beginning of Venezuelan cinematography dates back to 1909, but only in the 1950s. it acquires national features (films by M. Benacerraf). In the 1960s-90s. the most interesting directorial works are created by C. de la Cerda, E. Guedes, M. Wallerstein, S. Hoogestein.
