EDUCATION: Re-think Needed for Latin American Education Systems

By Dario Montero Reprint | | Print |

Dario Montero

MONTEVIDEO, Feb 9 1998 (IPS) - Education systems in southern Latin American countries need to to be overhauled because current programmes to reduce the number of pupils repeating a grade have resulted in a general lowering of standards, according to educators.

Education authorities, generally opposed to any change in policy, are beginning to rethink their positions, strategies and methodology which they now admit are contributing to the deterioration of children’s and adolescents’ education.

The average level of education for school-leavers in Latin America is fourth grade, that takes an average period of seven years to achieve. This grade repetition, plus increased flexibility in graduation policies in several countries has produced the decline in the overall level of education, according to educators.

The problem is even more acute in poorer regions, where education is more difficult because of the lack or absence of education among parents and the fact that teachers are under pressure to push their students to graduate, which is considered crucial for employment.

A study conducted by education authorities in Uruguay in 1996 revealed that the rate of grade repetition reaches 70 percent among graduating students.

Hector Florit, secretary general of the Uruguan Teachers Union, says that nine out every 10 grade school graduates have not received an adequate education, but go on to high school nonetheless.

“An alternative position to confront this problem would be to ‘de-stigmatize’ repeating a year, presenting it as another chance without harming a child’s self-esteem. These kind of programs have been carried out by some Christian schools in Venezuela and several educational institutions in Uruguay,” says Florit.

“Just like there is a tendency to value graduation,” the expert asks, “wouldn’t it be worth it to forget an institutional counter-culture based on learning, despite the pressures of the system and the social milieu and the recommendations of the World Bank?”

Data published by the World Bank indicates that close to four million Latin American children between six and seven years old that began first grade schooling this year must repeat the year.

Although the recommendation of the World Bank for the region is to reduce the current percentage of grade repetition from 29 percent to 10 by the year 2005, if the current trend continues, this goal will only be met by the year 2035.

The eight-year mandatory primary education in Brazil – where the problem is the most serious – only 43 percent finish their studies, taking an average of 12 years.

Repetition and drop-out rates make Brazil’s education system one of the worst in Latin America, surpassing even poorer countries like Peru and Ecuador. The percentage of repetition in the Brazil for the first year of grade school is about 40 percent.

Last December, president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with support from the opposition, passed a “minimal rent” law in an attempt to reverse these rates.

The law, which is based on a pioneering experiment conducted by the local government of Brasilia, provides regular financial support to poor families as long as they keep their children (or dependents under 14 years old) in school.

The average level of education of a Brazilian worker is only five years. In Argentina, it is nine, and in Uruguay, ten. Uruguay, despite the recent decline, still has the highest level of education of the four countries that make up the MERCOSUR common market – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In Argentina, teachers have seen their salaries decline and the educational infrastructure deteriorate drastically since the economic stability plan imposed by president Carlos Menem. In April 1997, they began a rotating hunger strike as part of a “struggle for dignity.”

The strike action – which is taking place inside a tent in front of the Congress in Buenos Aires has received the solidarity of most social and political sectors in the country. It now is threatening to spread to Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, in actions similar to those which took place in here last September.

In Uruguay, the educational reform promoted by president Julio Sanguinetti is also facing opposition from teachers, students and political sectors, who consider it to be inadequate for reversing the decline of the system which began during the military dictatorship.

Next month, as part of a plan devised independently of the reform, the government is launching anew experimental programme. The new plan, which will affect the first two years of grammar school, is aimed at lowering the rate of grade repetition, currently standing at at 22.5 percent.

The education system in Uruguay – which decades ago served as an example for all of Latin America – appears to be faltering. According to official figures, in schools located in poor areas in the outskirts of large cities, the percentage of grade repetition is 50 percent. The rate of repetition, which remained high but stable since the 1970s, began to grow in 1991, when it reached 20.76 percent. In 1994, it was 21.12 percent.

According to Florit, the reasons for the decline can be traced to the lack of support for the teaching profession, budget cuts of the last 30 years, and the institutional fracture imposed by dictatorships. The new programme to begin in March is still viewed with scepticism by teachers, who say they are not familiar with it.

“If the measures taken to address the problem do not include the improvement of infrastructure, curricula and salaries, then it will only be a waste of resources,” says Oscar Gomez, of the Association of Teachers of Uruguay.

The low salaries paid to teachers throughout the region has distorted the development of education, generating constant mobilizations and high levels of desertion, educators say. Some maintain that “teaching is a profession headed for extinction.”

The average monthly salary of a teacher in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay varies between 50 dollars – in the case of some Brazilian states – to 300 dollars in Uruguay.

In Argentina – where there is great disparity due to the fact that the educational system is controlled by the provincial governments – the highest salaries cover only 40 percent of the basic cost of living, and on average does not even cover 25 percent.