!e educational reforms of Felipe Guevara Rojas (1914-1916)

Abstract

Felipe Guevara Rojas was a prominent physician, professor and an intellectual who served important public roles during the early years of the government of General Juan Vicente Gómez. He was the Rector of the Central University of Venezuela (1912-1913) and Ministry of Public Instruction (1914-1916).During this period he contributed with his knowledge and experience to promote educational reforms in universities and in primary and secondary schools. This initiative earned him severe criticism and resistance from some of the sectors involved in the educational work of that time. However, his mostimportant legacy was to have established the absolute guarantee of freedom of teaching for those interested in founding educational establishments in the country. Regulations and reports prepared during the management of Rojas Guevara became a strong evidence of a modernizing trial purporting to steer Venezuela under the positivist sign of Order and Progress.

Keywords: Felipe Guevara Rojas; Reforms in Education; Gomecismo; Politics.