EDUCATION-LATAM: Today’s Challenges – Equal Access and Quality

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Yadira Ferrer

BOGOTA, Dec 10 1998 (IPS) - Latin America and the Caribbean are close to the target of universal primary school enrollment, and today’s challenge lies in achieving equal access to quality education, says a new Unicef report.

To accomplish that, a substantial increase in public spending on education, combined with a focus on “boosting social spending, for the benefit of quality,” are needed, said Unicef director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cecilio Adorna.

At the presentation of the annual “State of the World’s Children” report by Unicef, the U.N. children’s fund, in Colombia, Adorna said stepping up investment in education, especially among girls and women, would help reduce infant mortality, improve health and nutrition, and bolster democracy and sustainable development.

The Unicef report, released Wednesday, points out that the region’s overall primary school enrollment rate currently stands at above 90 percent, after growing at an annual rate of 4.4 percent from 1960 to 1990 – despite the financial austerity that characterised the decade of the 1980s. Guatemala and Haiti have the lowest enrollment rates in the region – 58 and 69 percent, respectively.

Of the nine million children who start school every year in the region, four million repeat first grade – which means that while around 90 percent of children start school, 42 percent flunk first grade, while 30 percent repeat second grade.

Nevertheless, a host of “successful experiences in the region have shown it is possible to provide education with equality and quality” for all, said Adorna.

An analysis of why only 38 of every 100 students in the eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais made it all the way through first grade in the early 1990s pinpointed the need for a decentralised educational system with a higher level of community involvement.

Highlighting the results obtained in Minas Gerais, the report points out that educational parameters significantly improved, and more children stayed in school.

In another successful effort, this time in the Central American nation of El Salvador, the administration of schools improved by bolstering participation by community associations in rural areas.

Colombia’s New School programme, meanwhile, has received global recognition, according to Carel de Rooy, Unicef representative for Colombia and Venezuela.

De Rooy said the New School educational model demonstrated how “well-designed lesson plans and didactic material can ensure a positive experience.”

New School emerged in the early 1980s, when rural schools in Colombia were scarce and of poor quality. The programme set up schools located close to the students’ homes in rural areas where the population is spread out over a wide area, with several grades taught by the same teacher. The teachers, who are trained as facilitators rather than authority figures, adapt study guides and plans to the needs of their students.

Unicef also cites the experience of bilingual education programmes in Bolivia, formal and informal educational programmes in Jamaica, and the “Educate Your Child” programme in Cuba, all of which were characterised by a high level of community participation.

Executive director of Unicef Carol Bellamy stressed that although education was facing major challenges, experience had shown that there were reasons for optimism.

Governments worldwide have pledged to spend seven billion dollars a year on education over the next 10 years.

The nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, meanwhile, channel an estimated nine to 13 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) into education.

At last month’s 4th Ministerial Meeting on Childhood and Social Policy, 35 delegates from government ministries throughout Latin America signed the “Lima Accord”, a document that set forth recommendations on how to make faster progress toward the year 2000 targets for children.

The Lima Accord put top priority on increasing public spending to improve education of girls and women in rural areas, equal access by boys and girls to primary education, and community involvement in the process of decentralising the educational system. It also contained a pledge by governments to draw up models of education that work toward peace and democracy.