All the Answers
Well-known member
A World Bank report on Argentina highlights the high absenteeism and school dropout rates among the poorest sectors - Infobae
Source:
Un informe del Banco Mundial sobre la Argentina subraya el alto ausentismo y deserción escolar de los sectores más pobres
El estudio sobre las “trampas de la pobreza” en el país dice que pese a avances en la cobertura de la educación obligatoria, en los sectores más vulnerables los niños tienen muy bajas tasas de asistencia a educación temprana y en los jóvenes aumentó la tasa de abandono a la secundaria. Este...
www.infobae.com
October 21, 2024
The study on the “poverty traps” in the country says that despite progress in the coverage of compulsory education, in the most vulnerable sectors children have very low rates of attendance at early education and the dropout rate from secondary school has increased among young people. This Monday begins the joint Annual Assembly of the Bank and the IMF, which will be attended by the economic team
(Illustrative Image Infobae)
More than half of children in Argentina, an alarming 58%, live in poverty. This reality not only affects their quality of life, but also has a strong impact on their access to education and their academic future. Despite good performance in compulsory education coverage, the vulnerable population has lower rates of attendance at early education and higher school dropout rates.
This is what emerges from “The traps of poverty in Argentina” , a report by the World Bank, an organization that will begin its Annual Assembly this Monday, together with the IMF, and which will be attended by the economic team . “From early education, the most vulnerable population has fewer opportunities for the development of human capital. Access to early childhood education and health care services shows a wide gap depending on the socioeconomic situation of each household. While half of children under 4 years of age in urban households in the richest quintile attended school in 2023, only a quarter of children in urban households in the lowest quintile did. Although access to early childhood education has improved in recent years, there are strong heterogeneities between provinces,” the study notes.
Parents of children who did not attend school said that their children would attend school from the age of three or four if they had better transportation (71%), if there were schools closer to their homes (67.5%), if schools were free (65.1%), or if they had good jobs (61.3%).
Secondary education: a broken cycle
Although schooling is almost universal until age 15, dropout rates begin to rise dramatically by secondary school, especially among students from the poorest households. Although access to secondary education has improved over the past decade, only 45% of youth from the poorest 40% graduate by the official age. This indicates that despite efforts to increase enrollment, support structures and social conditions continue to fail many students.“Enrolment rates begin to decline significantly from the age of 15, and school dropout rates accelerate among the most vulnerable . School dropout rates average 15% among 17-year-olds and are 3 percentage points higher among students in households in the poorest 40% of the population,” the study states.
These gaps are amplified in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. In the Greater Buenos Aires area, for example, 31% of 17-year-olds do not attend school and 13% of students had dropped out by the age of 15.
The World Bank highlighted that the proportion of young people is much higher among the poor and vulnerable segments of the population, so the educational gaps in these groups represent a very significant average loss of human capital for Argentina.
The study, conducted by the team led by Lourdes Rodríguez-Chamussy, also explains that school results are closely related to the educational level of parents and therefore to the lack of social mobility. Among school-aged young people aged 11 or older, as the educational level of parents increases, the percentage of students who are over the age corresponding to the level (overage) decreases.
Even in this adverse context, they pointed out that social protection programs have contributed to improving the situation somewhat: “There is evidence that the AUH has had positive effects on the accumulation of human capital. The program produced slight increases in enrollment rates among children and adolescent students and these effects were greater among students aged 15 to 17. It also had positive effects on student retention and graduation rates.”
But they warned: “While social protection mechanisms are essential, the fragile environment of macroeconomic imbalances and unsustainable fiscal policies hinders their long-term effectiveness.”
The agency recommended “promoting investment in education, health and people’s safety, with a better balance in resources allocated to children and adolescents to stop the intergenerational transmission of poverty.”
For the moment, the Education Secretariat's spending fell by 56.1% year-on-year in real terms in September, and in the first nine months the drop is 48.6% compared to the same period in 2023. According to a report by the consulting firm Analytica, there was not only a strong adjustment in terms of higher education but also at the initial, primary and secondary levels: transfers for education by the national government, which represent 33% of the total transfers accrued to the provinces, had a real year-on-year drop of 70.5% in the first nine months of the year.
