School in columbia sc: Richland County School District One / Homepage

Javeriana University
Carrera 7 # 40-62
(571) 320 83 2 0

University of Santo Tomas
Carrera 9 # 51-11
(571) 587 87 97

University E xternado
Calle 12 # 1-17 Este
(571) 353 70 00

Universidad del Rosario
Calle 12C # 6-25
(031) 2 97 02 00

Universidad de La Salle
Carrera 5 # 59A-44
(571) 348 80 00

University District Francisco José de Caldas
Carrera 7 # 40B-53
(571) 323 93 00

Libraries in Bogotá

There are many in Bogota libraries, some public, others private, boasting an impressive selection of books from around the world. Consultations are usually free, but in order to borrow books, you usually need a subscription.

• National Library of Colombia, Calle 24 # 5-60
• Luis Angel Arango Library, Calle 11 # 4-14
• Network of the local public library of Bogota (red Distrital de Bibliotecas Publicas), consisting of 23 institutions, including:

• Library Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Av. Calle 170 # 67-51
• Virgilio Barco Library, Av. Carrera 60 # 57-60
• El Tunal Library, Calle 48B Sur # 21-13

Babbel is a global success with millions of active subscribers and is the world’s number one innovative education company.

Why Bebbel?

Study and browse on your own schedule: compatible with mobile devices, tablets or computers, with lessons approximately 10-15 minutes.

Expertly Designed Courses: Learn the basics or focus on topics such as travel, culture or business.

Start speaking now: learn to speak a new language naturally and colloquially.

Each student is different: each course is based on your native language and personal interests.

Remember Everything: Babbel uses proven cognitive techniques that transfer new words into your long-term memory.

Improve your pronunciation: Practice speaking and improve your pronunciation with speech recognition technology.

Try Babbel for free today

Registering with Babbel is completely free and the first lesson of each course is FREE (depending on the language you choose, that’s 30-80 free lessons!).

Try it for free

If you want full access to Babbel courses, just choose the subscription that suits you best. Buy with confidence: 20-day money-back guarantee!

Prices and offers

Do you have any comments or information about this section? Add your comment.

Lessons from six in the morning and no diaries: how they teach and study in schools in Colombia

Colombian schools do not know about the existence of September 1, because the school year begins in February. And the school day, by the way, is from six in the morning. Yulia Vershinina studied Spanish in Colombia and talks about how the school system works there.

The entire Colombian education system is divided into three levels:

1. Preschool level. These are kindergartens familiar to us: creative activities, physical education, communication and no grades. State kindergartens are divided into two age groups: nursery – from the age of three and, in fact, kindergarten – from the age of four. Private centers accept children from six months.

Kindergarten building in Funza / Photo: Flickr (Reg Natarajan)

2. Main level. In Colombia, schools are divided into primary and secondary. For convenience, they can be called elementary and middle (middle-high) schools. The border between them runs between the fifth and sixth grades. And school education begins with the preparatory year.

Schooling lasts 11 years. Although in private schools that work according to the American system, there is an additional 12th grade. With graduation from school, a Colombian completes compulsory education and receives a bachelor’s degree (in Spanish Bachiller académico). Do not confuse it with a bachelor’s degree from the Bologna system: a Colombian bachelor’s degree corresponds to the Russian certificate of secondary general education.

Colombian schoolgirls / Photo: iStockphoto (Ivan_Sabo)

3. Level of higher education. Bachelor applicants can enroll in analogues of Russian technical schools and colleges (1-3 years of study) or universities (4-5 years of study). University graduates are awarded various degrees depending on their specializations. But until recently, every person with a higher education could count on a special respectful address in speech – a doctor. But they are trying to get rid of the habit, and leave the title of doctor only for doctors and PhD (Doctor of Science).

University of Cartagena / Photo: iStockphoto (DC_Colombia)

There is another phrase that can be confusing. The official name of all educational institutions at the school level is colegio, which we would habitually translate as “college”. But escuela (analogous to “school”), liceo (“lyceum”) and gimnasio (“gymnasium”) are used in the names of specific schools.

Separate education and boarding schools

Unusual types of schools include separate schools: some accept only boys or only girls (there are more of them).

There are also boarding schools where children live during the school year and come home only for holidays. There are few of them, they are located on the outskirts of the city or even outside the city. Private boarding schools are similar to English closed schools. And, as a rule, teenagers with poor academic performance or behavior are most often sent to state boarding schools.

In Colombia, unlike in Russia, children do not choose profiles in middle and high school. But there are schools with in-depth study. For example, if you enter a school where they study computer science in depth, after graduation they will give you not just a bachelor’s degree, but a bachelor’s degree in computer systems (in Spanish Bachiller técnico en sistemas [computación]). Other specializations include English and Pedagogy.

Colombian students / Photo: Flickr (Hugo Pardo Kuklinski)

What is taught in Colombian schools

In school preparatory groups, where they come at the age of five, children are taught to read, write, count and, in a playful way, children are taught about the basics of natural and social sciences.

In elementary school, the list of subjects is expanding: in addition to Spanish, mathematics and the world around, fine arts, physical education, music and the basics of religious teaching are added. For the first two years, younger students have work. English and computer science are taught from the third grade.

Transition to the sixth grade, to middle school, is a serious matter. Many eleven-year-olds even change educational institutions, because at this time it is already time to think about further admission to the institute. Higher education in Colombia is not cheap, and with good grades for final exams, you can enter the budget or win a scholarship.

In secondary school, geography, history, literature, biology appear in the schedule, and from the ninth grade – physics, chemistry, trigonometry and the basics of mathematical analysis.

Colombian students / Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ministerio de Educación)

How a typical school day goes

Colombian students study literally from sunrise to sunset. The first shift starts at dawn, at 6.00 – 6.30, and lasts until noon. Afternoon second shift ends at 18.00 – 18.30 – just in time for dark. According to this schedule, classes are also held at universities.

The Department of Education is looking into ways to switch to the American school day, with a single shift from 8:00 to 16:00. But for now, these are just plans. Existing schools are simply not enough to accept all students at the same time! But Saturday in Colombian schools is always a day off.

Classes in elementary school last 45-55 minutes, usually five or six lessons a day. In secondary school, the annual workload increases, but the number of lessons may remain the same – it’s just that each lesson lasts longer.

School uniform

In most schools, children wear uniforms. You need to buy it yourself. But at the same time, the lack of uniform cannot be a reason for exclusion from school (especially children from low-income families).

The casual uniform looks like this: girls wear a white blouse and sundress or knee-length skirt (trousers are not allowed), boys wear a white shirt and dress pants. If the school is located in the highlands, where it is cool, a jacket is added to the uniform. The set of colors on trousers and skirts is more cheerful than usual in Russian schools. Depending on internal standards, the form can be black, blue, red, green or gray. Stricter with shoes: only black or dark blue.

Colombian students in blue school uniform / Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Peace Corps)

The second type of uniform is for sports. Like the everyday uniform, it is the same for the whole school. But on the day when physical education is on the schedule, you can go to classes immediately in sportswear (for boys and girls – sweatshirts and sweatpants), and not carry a shift with you.

Sports uniform / Photo: Flickr (Peace Corps)

School hours and holidays

Colombia is located almost on the equator, and there are no seasons in the usual sense for us (except for the dry season and the rainy season). Not surprisingly, the school calendar also looks different.

Rather, there are two calendars: A and B. In the first academic year, it starts in February and lasts until the middle or end of November. In December-January, students have holidays. They rest for about a month in the summer (June-July) and a week in spring and autumn: in April, on Easter, and in October. According to calendar A, they study in all public and in some private schools.

Calendar B is the familiar school year from autumn to summer. True, in this calendar, unlike the Russian one, September 1 and May 25 are regular dates. Classes run from late August – early September to mid-June. The missed month of vacation is spent in December, and they rest for a week on Easter and in October. Many private schools operate according to this schedule, especially those with an economic focus, and repeating the American model.

Colombian students / Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ministerio de Educación)

Both calendar A and calendar B divide the school year into three or four periods, similar to our trimesters or quarters. The main thing is that the total duration of study complies with the state standard – 40 weeks. During this time, you need to spend 800 hours of classes in the preparatory group, 1000 in the elementary group, and 1200 in the middle-senior group. And on Christmas and Easter, children go on vacation. Approximately three times a year: on April 23 (Spanish Language Day), on the next school days for Independence Day (July 20) and for the Battle of Boyac (August 7), schools host celebrations that are very similar to our lines with poems, songs and dancing. Their official name is raising the flag (izada de bandera).

In addition to flag hoisting, schools organize similar celebrations at the end of each quarter/term. In Spanish, they are called Día de excelencia educativa (excellent day). At this time, children are awarded certificates for good studies and parent-teacher meetings are held, at which mothers and fathers are told about the success of the child.

On the eve of Love and Friendship Day (local Valentine’s Day), “secret friend” is played in schools. At the beginning of September, strips of paper with the names of all students in one class are placed in a bag. For a classmate whose name you pull out of the bag, you become a “secret friend” and prepare him a small gift for the holiday. “Secret friends” are played even in universities and offices. Finally, Halloween, beloved by Colombians, is celebrated in elementary schools. On this day, children can come to class in carnival costumes. So on the last day of October, Columbia’s elementary schools are filled with princesses, dragons, zombies, and supermen.

Examination and assessment system

In Colombia, no one is automatically transferred from class and class. Every year, students take exams – in each subject of the school curriculum.

Every eleventh grader takes an analogue of the Russian Unified State Examination – Pruebas Saber. The exam takes place on the last Sunday of August or the first Sunday of September and tests knowledge in absolutely all subjects of the school curriculum: mathematics, literature, social and natural sciences, languages. The exam has 300-500 questions on a variety of topics, and it lasts all day: four hours in the morning and four in the afternoon. High scores make it possible to enter a state university on a budget or receive a grant or loan to pay for tuition. True, every year universities focus less and less on Saber scores and conduct their own entrance exams. But it is by the results of Pruebas Saber that the level of secondary education in the country, region and particular school is assessed.

The most common grading scales in Colombia are five-point and ten-point. Our trio starts with three or six points, depending on the scale. But even for a terribly done job, you cannot give less than one (two in a ten-point system).

The trimester/quarter grade is made up of grades for homework, classroom work, tests and tests, and attendance. As a result, student performance is weak (D – Deficiente), unsatisfactory (I – Insuficiente), satisfactory (A – Aceptable), outstanding (S – Sobresaliente) and excellent (E – Excelente). Teachers keep attendance records. But schoolchildren do not have diaries so that teachers can grade or leave a comment for the information of parents. The only way to find out about your child’s school progress is to come to Día de excelencia educativa and get a list of grades for the quarter.

Colombian schoolchildren don’t have diaries / Photo: Flickr (Ministerio TIC Colombia)

School fees

Compulsory education in Colombia is conditionally free. In kindergarten and elementary school, parents pay nothing for their studies. Contributions appear in the middle classes in public schools, and the older the class, the more they become. But the Colombian Ministry of Education is trying to regulate the final amount so that all children can graduate from school.

In practice, education in public schools is not very free, but the cost, as a rule, does not compare with prices in private schools. Therefore, in public schools there is a big competition for a place, and the school day has to be divided into two shifts – there are too many people who want to study.

Expenses for uniforms, textbooks, meals at school – on parents. Only in some state institutions do junior schoolchildren from poor families receive free breakfast or lunch. There may also be school bus fares. The bus delivers children from door to door, but this is not done by the schools themselves or the state, but by private companies. So parents themselves must find a carrier and pay for its services.

Rural Kindergarten / Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Quinaya Qumir)

Teacher shortage and severe inequality

Children from affluent families have a good choice of private schools based on American or European models and often with expatriate teachers. Graduates of such schools then easily enter the universities of the USA and Spain. And in a simpler school, an English teacher may not even speak English. As a 2014 study showed, only 12% of English teachers can pass the test for knowledge of their subject.

Colombian education is assessed by another test – the international program for assessing the quality of education PISA. Every three years, 15-year-olds from different countries complete tasks in reading, math and general science literacy, and based on these results, a country ranking is built. In 2015, Colombia was ranked at the bottom of the Iberoamerican group of countries. At the same time, Colombia turned out to be one of the leaders in terms of technical equipment of educational institutions: almost one computer per student. But the country also holds a leading position in the sad rating of repeaters: only Algerian schoolchildren repeat the curriculum more often.

In addition to the mentioned socio-economic disparity, the low results on Pruebas PISA are attributed to the lack of good teachers. Although a teacher is an honorable job in Colombia, the salaries of public school teachers are low and are calculated according to a single pay scale depending on workload, length of service, education and scientific degrees.

Due to dissatisfaction with salaries, public sector teachers often go on strike, and classes are canceled for schoolchildren. Robinson was sent to work in Colombia in the early 1960s. The then mayor of the Colombian capital, in order to attract foreign embassies to the improvement of the city, came up with a cunning plan. He named the parks that needed attention after the names of the countries – and the embassies had no choice but to take care of “their” parks in response to the honor.

Colombian schoolchildren / Photo: Flickr (Photo RNW.org)

Of course, these parks were not in rich areas, and it was difficult to call them parks – rather wastelands overgrown with grass. In the “Canadian” park there was a small gazebo: there a semi-literate policeman assigned to the park taught the local children to read and write to the best of his ability. It was the only school for 20 thousand inhabitants of the district.

The embassy decided that the best contribution to the life of the city would be not only an ennobled square, but also a full-fledged school. The employees raised money through philanthropists, found an architect and a construction company, and after some time a beautiful new building stood in the park. It remains only to find teachers.

But it was such a daunting task that the embassy had to come up with a plan that was almost as clever as the mayor’s “park” combination.