Chile: the balanced view : a recopilation of articles about the Allende years and after

Sufficiently representative figures are not available for these three important sectors of natlonal activity, to which the government assigns a special priority. At this stage, nelther the policies nor the figures and details are presented. This report attempts essentially to enumerate the aspects that most decisively influence the country's ability to repay its foreign obligations, which include its current foreign debt, the deficit in its balance oftrade, and new credits it will have to request in order to cover needs arising in the near future for the recovery and development of the economy. .1. Education As was pointed out in the study presented to the IAPC in December 1973, elementary schObl registration in Chile has reached 99.5 percent. Thus, efforts in this area must be concentrated on improving mean attendance and keeping pupils in the school system. At the same time, it is necessary to increase elementary school construction in order to make room for kindergarten students and new pupíls, as wel/ as to improve the quality of classrooms. The substantial progress that has been achieved in elementary education is already putting strong pressure on intermediate and technical training schools, which are the extension of elementary education, and the various levels of middle and high school education, without even considering higher education. At present. the available space per elementary school pupí I is more or less 2 sq m and per middle school pupil, 3 sq m. The quality of the space varíes greatiy. The preceding figures indicate the inadequacy of space per pupil, and therefore, a good school construc– tion program must be implemented in order to ímprove the quality and quantity of available space for both elementary and middfe schools. Taking ínto conslderation very prelrmlnary figures on the subject, an ínítíal investment program in elementary, middle, and intermediate professíonal education might be repre– sented by the following partial figures for 1974-76: National currency Foreign currency US$ 171 mil/ion, equivalent 4 mili ion equivalent u S$ 175 million, equivalent The total figure does notlake into account needs for higher and university education. If these were to be considered, the figure would probably rise to more than $ 200 mil/ion. In addition, it would be necessary to consider an expansion of efforts in the private sector of education, which might cost another $ 20 mili ion. Tosummarize, investments in education would equal US$ 220 million over the next five years.(1) 2~ Health In connection with investments in health, the first consideration is to increase the efficiency oi use of existing hospital facilities, 'which average 4.2 beds per 1,000 inhabi– tants. A rapid expansion of health services in rural areas is also projected, and the creation of at least 100 health centers is planned. Their functíons should include birth control, preven– !ion of prevalent infectious and parasitic diseases through sanitary education programs, improvement of the environment (which has already been mentioned), and vaccination. Also considered a 'lop-priority program under health is the industrial production of vegetable and animal protein mixtures to improve the nutritíon of the population. Without reference to figures (except very provisional data on the most basic aspects of the program outlined above), itis estimated thatthe investment in outfitting, replacing, and (1 )The 1974 budget considers a total fiscal investment in education equivalentto approximately US$ 50 million 245