Notes on education in Venezuela: the school in the commune or the commune as a school?

Abstract

In this article we present some impressions about the experience of education and political formation of the Escuela Técnica Agropecuária “Ernesto Guevara” in the Comuna Socialista Agroecológica El Maizal, located between the states of Lara and Portuguesa in Venezuela. We consider that this experience corresponds to a process of education originating from popular self-organization, linked to the productive organization of the commune, and which constitutes an essential part of the resistance to imperialism and of the organizational strategy for the territorialization of popular power in the country. In order to reflect on this experience, we analyzed some legal frameworks concerning education and communal organization in the country, as well as the school's pedagogical proposal, beyond the observation in loco of some activities carried out by students in the Comuna El Maizal in February and March 2022.