Uruguay's system of universal, free, and secular education required a total of eleven years of compulsory school attendance, from ages six to fifteen.

The main problem confronting the education system was the inadequacy of facilities, instructional materials, and teachers' aides.

In addition, dropout and repetition rates, although moderate by Latin American standards, were still considered high.

General education in secondary schools encompassed six years of instruction divided into two three-year cycles.

All sectors of society traditionally tended to prefer the academic course of study, which was regarded as more prestigious.

Despite the free tuition, however, access to a university education tended to be limited to children of middle and upper-income families because the need to supplement the family income by working, coupled with the expense of books and other fees, placed a university education out of the reach of many.

Most courses of study were intended to last from four to six years, but the average time spent at university by a successful student was usually considerably longer.

As in the rest of Latin America, maintaining the status of student had various advantages, such as reduced fares on buses and subsidized canteens.

Uruguayans exhibited a strong preference for the disciplines and professions they deemed prestigious, such as law, social science, engineering, medicine, economics, and administration.

Observers continued to note the discrepancy between university training and job opportunities, particularly in the prestigious fields.

In 1984, as something of a parting shot, Uruguay's military government formally granted university status to a Catholic college that had been expanding over the previous decade.

In 2010, with the new government of José Mujica Cordano, the program will continue, and is planned to be extended to cover all secondary education children as well.

[2] Following the ideas of the OLPC, Uruguay was the first country in the world to commit itself and implement a plan to distribute personal computers to every student and teacher in the public education system, with the strategic purpose of improving educational quality in an equity framework.