Through various mechanisms, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has increased political control in educational institutions at all levels: primary, secondary and universities. Its strategy of indoctrination of students is increasingly common and aggressive.
They have achieved total control through the confiscation of at least 30 private universities, such as the Central American University (UCA), owned by the Society of Jesus.
They have also increased control and indoctrination of primary, secondary and higher education students, through provisions of the Ministry of Education and the National Council of Universities (CNU), both bodies under the control of the dictatorship.
Recently, through communication number 11-2024, the CNU led by the Ortega supporter Ramona Rodríguez, president of that entity and rector of Unan-Managua, established that no educational institution may offer refresher and training courses unless it is “duly authorized and approved” by that body.
Prior to the celebration of July 19, the Sandinista revolution has been a topic in primary and secondary schools. Taken from 19 digital
“No institution that is not duly authorized and approved… can offer training and updating courses, such as diplomas and others that by their nature belong to the area of higher education,” the statement said.
Higher Education in “free fall”
Given this scenario, it is worth asking: Where is higher education headed in Nicaragua? The answer for Adrián Meza, rector of the Pablo Freire University (Florida, USA), forced into exile after the confiscation of the university’s headquarters in Managua, is that it is in “free fall.” “A clear decline in its quality is already beginning to be noticed,” says the academic.
The former rector comments that this situation was already more noticeable at the primary and secondary levels “based on the fact that Nicaragua had always failed, so to speak, in international tests that have to do with mastery of mathematics, reading, etc.”
Related news: Education in Nicaragua is “under attack”, regime imposes “political and partisan indoctrination”
“Now it is also beginning to be noticed at the higher level, that is, at the level of university education, since a period of five or six years has already passed since the regime began to take absolute control of the universities in 2018,” said Meza.
He commented that “it is clear how the category and standards of public universities and also indirectly in private universities are beginning to decline.”
They try to tame the youth
Recently, the regime’s media reported on an “exchange of knowledge” between communication students from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua) and the National University Casimiro Sotelo (formerly UCA), with Russian propaganda agencies.
The meeting was with a political delegation of propagandists from the news network RT in Spanish, a Russian-based media outlet that was canceled in the United States and several European countries for spreading fake news in favor of dictator Vladimir Putin.
“Please accept fraternal greetings from the student movement… we know that these are experiences acquired that will strengthen the awareness of our students in these new times and that will allow them to transmit the truth, fighting misinformation,” said Douglas Lara, president of the National Union of Students of Nicaragua (UNEN), the armed wing of the dictatorship in public universities and those recently confiscated.
Related news: With the closure of INCAE, Ortega “is liquidating higher education in Nicaragua,” say opponents
Rosario Murillo, the spokesperson for her partner Daniel Ortega’s regime, recently said in one of her speeches that in addition to “new meetings and training sessions,” Russian journalists “have arrived in our country to participate in these days that are so important for our Revolution.”
Communication students from the now defunct UCA have also been taught how to write news, a mission entrusted to the editor-in-chief of Sputnik Mundo, another pro-Russian disinformation outlet.
Scientific and technological backwardness
Meza believes that, although “we do not feel it so clearly right now, there will be an obvious scientific and technological backwardness in the country, that is to say, in all countries the university is a center for generating science and technology, but what science and technology will the Nicaraguan university be able to generate?”
He considered that the above is not possible “when it (the university) is prostrate before the model that turns education into doctrine, that is to say, the priority of the University in Nicaragua is not science and technology right now, the priority is the domestication of youth based on what it wants to perpetuate.”
“This has a third impact, which is effectively the deterioration in the quality of professional services that the Nicaraguan population will receive in the medium and long term,” he said.
Finally, Meza believes that the other effect that will begin to be felt is the “increasing difficulty in the homologation and validation of university degrees from Nicaragua in the rest of the region.”
“We are certain that moving from education to doctrine will have a very high cost that will be paid by the Nicaraguan people and the country in general,” he concluded.
Indoctrination also in schools
In public schools, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education (MINED), they have prepared “days” to celebrate different anniversaries, such as the birthday of the leader Augusto C. Sandino and the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution.
On July 5, the Ministry of Education announced with great fanfare that after a week of activities at the national level, they had managed to “strengthen” the axes and lines of the new national education strategy, through “meetings with students, teachers, and parents from the study centers.”
Related news: Nicaragua’s Ministry of Education authorized the La Salle Pedagogical Institute to continue operating under strict conditions
The political touch could not be missing. The Minister of Education, Mendy Aráuz, said: “Activities were held to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Popular Revolution with the beautification of the educational centers and delegations, revolutionary cantatas with the students integrated into the Rubén Darío student choirs, photography exhibitions, drawing and painting contests, educational environments were renovated to motivate reading, and Mathematics and Natural Sciences practices in primary education centers.”
On July 12, the Mined website shared an informative note with the title “Educational Community honors Commander Julio Buitrago Urroz on the 55th Anniversary of the Passage to Immortality.”
The images show children and teachers standing guard at a mausoleum of the “father of urban resistance.”
“With an artistic and cultural festival and reaffirming their love, respect and the continuity of his legacy, educational authorities from the Ministry of Education (MINED), together with students and teachers, paid tribute to Commander Julio Buitrago Urroz, “Father of Urban Resistance,” on the 55th anniversary of his transition to immortality,” the news says.
The event took place in a school in the capital that bears the name of the person identified as a “national hero.” An official from the Mined of the department of Managua said that this institution had the commitment to “promote among students the knowledge of the history of the Sandinista Front, with special emphasis on the figure of Julio Buitrago.”
In the official 19 digital, there was evidence of the indoctrination of the Mined when celebrating Sandino: “The Ministry of Education of Nicaragua celebrated together with the entire educational community the 129th anniversary of the birth of General Augusto C. Sandino, highlighting his historical legacy and teaching to the new generations.”
“Flowers have been placed at monuments to the general, as well as special activities in 51 educational centers that bear his name, serenades, songs, flags have been raised, concerts, painting exhibitions, video forums, among other activities that allow us to celebrate General Sandino in sovereignty,” said the advisory minister on education issues, Salvador Vanegas.
