The U.S. Office of Education has undertaken the preparation of a series of basic studies on education in a number of Central and South American countries under the sponsorship of the Interdepartmental Committee on Cultural and Scientific Cooperation. This series of studies is part of a program to promote understanding of educational conditions in the American countries and to encourage cooperation in the field of Inter-American education. The project, a part of a Government-wide program of cultural cooperation under the auspices of the Department of State, was begun in the fall of 1943. This document is based on data gathered by the author in El Salvador in 1945 and supplemented since then through documentation. Its contents include background information on this smallest of the five Central American republics, plus: (1) Educational Organization and Administration, providing an overview of the historical development and current status of education; (2) Elementary Education, describing the aim and organization of elementary education in the kindergartens, municipal elementary schools, State-subsidized schools, and private elementary schools; (3) Secondary Education, covering the aim and organization of secondary, or post-elementary, education in the national institutes of science and literature, private secondary schools, normal schools, commercial schools, and the National Military Academy; (4) Other State Activities in Education, including the National School of Music and Public Speaking, Radio Activities, English School of the Air, Experimental Agriculture Station, Cooperative Educational Program, Vacation Institutes, and the English Institute; and (5) Autonomous University of El Salvador, presenting the aims, administration, requirements, degrees, and so on of the University in San Salvador. A bibliography is included. (Contains 34 footnotes, 15 tables, and 2 charts.) [Best copy available has been provided.]