
Given the following passage

"Institutes of technology in Venezuela were developed in the 1950s as an option for post-secondary education in technical and scientific courses, after the polytechnic French concepts. At that time, technical education was considered essential for the development of a sound middle class economy.",

answer the following question. Note that the answer is present within the text.

Question: What is cited as a reason for the topic of the paragraph? 

as an option for post-secondary education in technical and scientific courses
