Venezuelan students return to classrooms more than two months after earthquakes

Students at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the country's leading institution of higher education, reported moderate attendance in classrooms this Monday, more than two months after the double earthquake that occurred on June 24.

In the University City of Caracas, repair work is still underway on buildings and structures across 11 faculties that suffered minor damage from the seismic events. The UCV also became the site of one of the largest public collection drives for supplies, food, and medicine as part of voluntary humanitarian aid effort.

At present, however, the collection center, which distributed more than 50,000 tons of humanitarian aid, is operating at minimal capacity, as faculty members and students work to resume normal academic activities.

Full return to classrooms

The Minister of Education of Venezuela, Héctor Rodríguez, confirmed that the 2026-2027 school year will officially begin next Monday, September 14, when students at all educational levels are expected to return to classrooms.

More than 6 million children are expected to attend some 27,000 schools across the country’s primary and secondary education systems. However, in regions like La Guaira and some areas of Caracas and Miranda, the resumption of classes will not be possible immediately because the facilities are being used as shelters and their structures have been damaged by the earthquakes and need to be repaired.

"The main problem we have is with 87 [schools] that have structural damage. This means they can be recovered, but they will not be ready by the 14th", Rodríguez said. He added that, of the 11 schools that collapsed, according to figures he provided in a television broadcast on August 25, three are public and the rest are private and subsidized.

The education department emphasized that the priority for ensuring the continued schooling of students affected by the double earthquake is to relocate them to functioning schools near their homes. Students who have been displaced from their communities may instead be transferred to schools in other states.