Educational advances in Latin America are slowed down and the goals of the 2030 Agenda are in danger

Economic difficulties and the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the slowdown and stagnation in the progress of educational achievements in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2015 and 2021, three UN agencies reported this Thursday*

In a report Launched coinciding with World Literacy Day, the study highlights that, if the current rate continues, the countries of the region will not reach the goals set for the year 2030 by the Sustainable Development Goal number four, that seeks to guarantee an inclusive, equitable and quality education.

The study highlights five major regional trends during the analyzed period.

illiteracy decreases

The report reflects the increase in adult literacy levels and in the highest educational level reached by the population, indicators that have made sustained progress for decades.

For example, the report highlights that in the last ten years the number of illiterate people has been reduced by 7.7 million, although in rural areas 12.8% of the young and adult population is still illiterate.

Improvement in certain indicators, combined with a reduction in inequalities

This section highlights the increase in access to the pre-primary level, more marked in rural sectors and in the quintile of the population with the lowest income. It also improved the completion of secondary education, especially in the most vulnerable population.

On the other hand, between 2000 and 2020 the average number of students older than expected at the primary level decreased from 14.4% to 7.8%, while in secondary education it fell from 18% to 13% between 2010 and 2020.

For 2019, the gross enrollment rate for pre-primary education (from the age of three to the beginning of primary education) was 77.5%, with constant growth over the last twenty years.

Brake to the improvement in secondary education

The average completion of secondary education between 2015 and 2020 only increased by 1.9% during the first cycle of secondary school and 2.1% for the second cycle, while in the period between 2010 and 2015 these records they were 6.1% and 6% respectively.

UNESCO

A student from Colegio San Judas Tadeo, in the Dominican Republic, a member of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network.

Gains in reading, math and science stall

Although the percentage of the population that does not attend school, both in primary and secondary education, practically did not change during the period studied, learning achievements are threatened by serious setbacks caused by the impact of the pandemic.

The region failed to improve in the areas of reading, math, and science, which had occurred between 2006 and 2013. In secondary education, for the ten Latin American countries participating in the latest edition of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018, the results also show that the average for the region did not vary between 2015 and 2018 in the three areas.

Certain gaps in tertiary education are growing

Despite the fact that in the last twenty years tertiary education managed to incorporate 17 million students, this expansion is uneven.

In this way, between 2015 and 2020 it increased very little in the rural sector and the differences in access between men and women also grew: if in the year 2000 the gross enrollment rate in higher education for both groups was between 21% and 25%, by 2020 the difference widened, with 61.7% for women and 46.8% for men. The access gap by socioeconomic level has also increased. In recent years, tertiary education has favored almost exclusively the middle and upper sectors.

Regard to the financing of education, 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have reduced their public investment in education since 2015. This stagnation increased with the COVID-19 crisis, which in 2020 alone implied an economic contraction of 7.7% of GDP. Between 2015 and 2019, educational spending as a percentage of total public spending fell from 16.1% to 15.4% in the region and, relative to GDP, it fell from 4.5% to 4.3%.

Finally, it is indicated that Summit on the Transformation of Educationwhich will take place on September 19, 2022 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, will provide “a continuous space to take stock of the efforts necessary to recover from learning losses related to the pandemic, reimagine education systems for world of today and tomorrow, and to reinvigorate national and global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal number four.

*The Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago), the Regional Office for UNICEF for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNICEF LACRO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).