“School dropout is one of the major challenges facing the education system after the pandemic.”
(Transcription of Karina Batthyány's Column)
(In InfoCLACSO – September 7, 2022)
Today I propose to analyze some aspects of education with some recent reports from both UNESCO and UNICEF that allow us to update ourselves on this point.
Since the beginning of 2020, two years of constant adaptation unfolded, leaving no educational institution unscathed. All educational institutions had to undergo significant adaptation processes. What was initially envisioned as a brief and temporary closure ended up being a kind of big bang for educational institutions at all levels. For two years, schools, secondary schools, and universities had to close and, after adapting to online formats, experiment with blended learning models until reaching the current moment of full reopening, where many institutions are either recovering or discussing strategies for learning recovery.
Most education systems were not prepared for isolation, which involved organizational and infrastructure changes of magnitude, such as the implementation of rotating schemes to comply with health protocols, the massive leap to online education, or a reconfiguration process in terms of teaching work.
In this sense, this process firstly confirmed the adaptability and commitment of education workers and also the centrality that workers have in the educational process.
UNICEF estimated that, during the strictest lockdowns, more than 1.500 billion students worldwide were out of school due to closures. Latin America and the Caribbean was the region most affected by school disruptions, with 80 percent of instructional time lost during the first year of the pandemic.
Indeed, this massive transition to online teaching and learning was not easy in Latin America and the Caribbean, nor in the rest of the world. Digital inequality gaps were major constraints on this online teaching and learning process in a region where home internet access reaches only 45% of households.
Furthermore, in the years leading up to the pandemic, the arrival of neoliberal governments in many of our countries led to the discontinuation of inclusive digital education policies, further complicating the already pre-pandemic situation. Let us not forget—to cite just two examples—that in Argentina, Mauricio Macri's government discontinued the Conectar Igualdad program, and in Chile, Piñera's government did the same with the Enlaces program, both policies specifically aimed at reducing the digital divide among students and institutions.
Therefore, school dropout is one of the major challenges facing the education system in the wake of the pandemic. Looking at UNESCO data from mid-2021, the latest available, in almost half of the countries in the region, less than three-quarters of the original enrollment had returned to primary and secondary schools. In other words, in almost half of the countries, a quarter of the students had lost contact—virtual or in-person—with the education system. This is very serious. Faced with this challenge, some countries in the region have implemented programs to monitor and reintegrate disengaged students, while others, a smaller number, have implemented support policies to ensure the right to education for vulnerable groups.
The truth is that even before the educational crisis caused by the pandemic, a slowdown—and in some cases a stagnation—was already being observed in many countries in the progress of many of the educational achievements that were notable in the period 2000-2015. As early as 2019, it was estimated that 10,4 million children and young people were excluded from access to primary and secondary education in our region.
Looking at higher education, we must remember that the region had been experiencing a period of expansion, during which it added approximately 17 million students in the last 20 years, reaching a gross enrollment rate of 54,1% by 2020. In recent years, the rate of increase has slowed, and, more importantly, some gaps in access to higher education have widened, particularly those related to socioeconomic status. The latest UNESCO report, prepared to monitor progress toward SDG 4, states that “tertiary education in recent years has benefited almost exclusively the middle and upper classes.” This situation should raise concerns in our region regarding the right to education at all levels, including secondary education.
Furthermore, another key dimension of the educational issue in recent years is the unease caused by the crisis within the educational community. Job and income losses, along with the disruptions in caregiving, severely impacted most households within the educational community, at a time when schools struggled to implement the support practices they have historically provided. Lockdowns reduced the social component of educational institutions: the disconnection from peers undoubtedly affected students' mental health. According to a UNICEF survey conducted in the region during the first half of 2021, one in five young people reported often feeling depressed or having little interest in doing things as a result of this isolation and the loss of contact with their peers.
Finally, there is the issue of funding: UNESCO, as an international organization, emphasizes the urgent need for governments to increase their investment in education, a demand echoed by all sectors involved in education. The truth is that after a period of significant growth in educational investment, which raised education spending from 3,7% of regional GDP in 2006 to 4,6% in 2014, a stagnation followed by a decline has been observed. Before the pandemic, in 2019, it stood at 4,3%. And in the last two years, 15 of the 33 countries in the region have reduced their spending on education.
-During the pandemic, the situation of exclusion from education became more visible because there were no major plans for access, specifically to computers and internet access, which became very basic necessities. These were certainly not included a few years ago, but today they have clearly become fundamental. Do you have any idea when these internet access tools began to be incorporated?
Clearly, the presence of information technologies (as they can be called) was already important in the education sector, but it wasn't as necessary and essential as it became during the pandemic. And there was clearly a significant lag at the level of educational institutions in their integration and, above all, in facilitating access for their entire educational community—students, teachers, and others. Of course, this varies considerably across Latin American and Caribbean countries, but also within each country depending on the location and resources of the schools. What the pandemic did demonstrate is that internet access has become an absolutely necessary and essential dimension in educational communities.
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