Colombia

If no candidate obtains an absolute majority (half of all votes) in the first round, a second and deciding round between the two leading contenders is held three weeks later. The president is the head of state, of the government and of the armed forces, as well as the supreme administrative authority.
             There are various political parties, of which the conservatives and the Liberals have been the major traditional forces since their foundation in 1849. Administratively the country is divided into 32 departments ruled by governors, and Bogota's special district is ruled by the city's mayor. The governors and the mayors are elected by popular vote. (18).
             Colombia covers 1,141,748 sq km, it is the fourth largest country in south America, after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. Colombia occupies the northwestern part of the continent and is the only South American country with coasts on both the Pacific and the Caribbean. Colombia is bordered by Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Colombia has a number of islands. The major ones are the Archipelago of San Andres and Providencia. Dydynski (33).
             Education in Colombia is influenced by the socioeconomic status of an individual. Although government agencies for the past years have improved the population's level of education, there are some rural parts in Colombia where children do not have the chance of acquiring Education past primary school. In terms of average education, the heads of poor households have a fourth grade education, the probability of having an education increases with household size in poverty-stricken homes. According to Alfredo Sarmiento Gomez in his essay " Equity and Education in Colombia" the constant efforts to improve the coverage provided by public primary schools produced remarkable results. The fact that 90 percent of the children in the appropriate age-groups in urban areas and nearly 70 percent of children in rural areas attended primary school indicated that further expansion would require carefully developed regional strategies.