Optimizing location and size of rural schools in Chile
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Authors
Araya, Fernando
Dell, Robert
Donoso, Pedro
Marianov, Vladimir
Martínez , Francisco
Weintraub, Andrés
Subjects
location
rural schools
education policy
rural schools
education policy
Advisors
Date of Issue
2012
Date
Publisher
International Transactions In Operational Research
Language
Abstract
The Chilean Ministry of Education oversees preschool, primary, and secondary education in both urban
and rural areas. Many parts of Chile are sparsely populated and there are currently over 4,000 rural schools
(almost 38% of all schools in Chile) educating 9.5% of the students in the country.Many of the rural schools
are small with only one teacher responsible for instruction of all local students (multigrade schools). The
geographical distribution of the rural schools has not been coordinated and this has resulted in unequal
utilization of existing schools and some unreasonably long travel distances by students. Good management of
the rural schools is fundamental to meeting Chile’s goal of providing quality education to its citizens. Seeking
to improve the situation, the Ministry of Education ordered a study of the optimal location and size of rural
schools with the general goals of reducing the number of lesser quality multigrade schools and reducing
student travel distances while maintaining reasonable costs. This paper presents results of this study obtained
using an integer linear program that has been embedded in a geographical information system. We present
computational results for the entire country. Recommendations include where to open new rural schools as
well as where to expand, reduce, close, or leave unchanged existing schools. We show how recommendations
are sensitive to key parameters such as the cost of transportation.
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Institute for Complex
Engineering Systems
Funder
ICM-MIDEPLAN, P-05-004-F, CONICYT FBO16 and
FONDECYT GRANT 1100296.
Format
Citation
Intl. Trans. in Op. Res. 19 (2012) 695–710
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.