Why was education largely controlled by Catholic clergy in colonial Chile?

In colonial Chile, education was almost entirely controlled by the Roman Catholic Church primarily because there was little separation between church and state in the Spanish colonies.123

As the Spanish crown and the church worked in tandem to manage the colony, religious orders—including Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits—assumed responsibility for instruction. This monopoly on education served to reinforce the highly structured social class differences of the era. Because the colony was relatively poor and isolated, intellectual life developed slowly, and the church’s influence remained significant and frequently decisive in secular affairs.123

While the Royal and Pontifical University of San Felipe eventually opened in 1758, the church’s long-standing dominance over schooling ensured that education remained deeply tied to religious dogma and the preservation of the existing social order until the late colonial period.123