Carnival celebrations in El Callao, Venezuela. File photo.
The Venezuelan minister for education, Héctor Rodríguez, stated that the election of carnival queens among students or inside educational facilities is not authorized by the ministry. Rodríguez invited students and the community to approach carnivals from an educational point of view.
In a bulletin dated February 13, Rodriguez stated, “I take this opportunity to clarify that the Ministry of People’s Power for Education does not authorize in any way the election of carnival queens among students or inside educational facilities. Let us have clarity and conviction that this is, without a doubt, a nefarious practice, an expression of symbolic violence against girls and young women which will certainly evolve into physical and sexual violence. Violence against girls and young women affects their lives, their freedom, dignity, and physical, psychological, sexual, and economic integrity, and it is our duty to protect them from this. The transmission of stereotypes that objectify and violate persons are issues that we must bring to the debate as teachers, families, and society.”
The bulletin emphasized that “right now, each school should be organizing strategies to approach the upcoming carnivals from an educational point of view. Beware of the simplistic approaches!”
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“I would like to insist that, as teachers, we must carefully consider carefully every opportunity that comes our way: the child’s interest, the celebration of an important date, a social or cultural event. We can always connect it with knowledge, give meaning to learning,” he added.
As for the carnivals, the minister stressed that “limiting carnivals to the usual ‘carnival party’ largely denies their potential. A carnival has the capacity to build bridges, to build identity, to develop a sense of belonging, a sense of community, a space for the preservation of traditions and cultural resistance. Carnival is a particularly potent space for reconnection and collective celebration.”
Rodríguez also requested that citizens provide the Day of Love and Friendship [referred to as Valentine’s Day in some countries] with “a broader, liberating, and reflective meaning, one that does not deny the celebration but transforms it into an opportunity… and represents an ideological method for understanding and living relationships.”
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SL
