Venezuela was once the richest country in Latin America and had an education system that was one of the best in the Western Hemisphere. However, the price of oil dropped from $100 a barrel to $30 a barrel in 2013 and Hugo Chavez died. He was replaced by Nicolas Maduro who mismanaged his country and saw the collapse of the education system.
Most of the middle class of the country fled and teacher salaries were cut drastically to near minimum wage of $8 monthly. The low pay and lack of students and resources have seen the majorly of teachers in the country leave the country and or the profession have not returned to the classroom in September. The lack of students was a result of schools not providing meals because of a lack of funding by the government. Some schools have less than 10% of their enrollment.
The New York Times has an excellent article on Venezuela's education travesty under the Socialist government.
Here is a Frontline timeline of Venezuela's economic collapse.