By Julián Suárez*

It cannot be said that, during the past few decades, Latin America has made significant advances in terms of education. During the last 20 years the number of children excluded from school went down 48%; the enrollment rate in high school went from 59% in the early 90s to 76% in 2015; and the amount of years of formal education among the adult population also grew.

Despite these good news, generally linked to a greater access to education, it is not possible to hide the long list of pending matters. These issues set the agenda for the years to come, not just in terms of closing the gaps that set the region apart from the most developed economies, but mainly because deficient education systems limit the productive capacity and competitiveness of our economies in the medium and long term.

Even though the situation varies a lot in each country – and even within every country-, there are urging shared issues, such as improving teachers’ skills, including pedagogic innovations and socioemotional skills suited for young people’s needs; having proper education facilities, or achieving a greater correlation between study programs and skills demanded by the labour market.

In addition, one of the main unsolved challenges is reducing the level of school dropouts. As a matter of fact young students who drop out of school tend to be unemployed for a longer period of time, or are employed in the informal economy, earning lower wages and having fewer tools to address the challenges that come up during and after their education.

For instance, even though secondary school is mandatory in most countries in the region, only 60% of students graduate. There are multiple reasons for this, and the decision to leave school is not an isolated fact, but rather tends to be the result of a process of social and educational exclusion.

When analyzing this situation, we must understand the importance of considering gender perspective: around 36% of women who leave school do it because they become pregnant or have to take care of their children; while among men, the main cause is linked to economic needs. Moreover, around 29% of young people who leave secondary school say they did so due to a lack of interest, as they consider that the content they learn is irrelevant for their daily lives, or due to academic problems (frustration from having poor grades or lack of capacity to bear with academic burden).

The situation of secondary level education reflects a clear need: we must work on preparing our youth so they may acquire the skills they need to thrive in labour markets and society. There is not a one size fits all solution for this, and sustainable actions must be promoted, based on measures that come from effective public policies, better budget allocation, which generate and retain learning that leads to a universal and high quality education.

A report recently published by CAF – Development Bank of Latin America – and RD4, suggest a number of initiatives aimed at implementing systemic responses. Having isolated programs or policies is not enough, as a broader strategy that promotes the coordination of programs, policies and initiatives that address the multiple factors of dropouts, is necessary.

School actors must have flexibility to implement solutions fitted to an institutional plan, as well as resources and guidelines to facilitate and develop their activities.

The report enumerates a number of measures to reduce high school dropouts and promote quality education, such as: having an early warning information system on students, programs and schools, which shall make it possible to identify risky situations and provide information to implement focused and relevant interventions; enhancing parents’ involvement in education, training teachers, and investing in schools’ staff that work of reducing dropouts. The goal is to promote the sense of belonging to the school and to increase the relevance of study programs. Finally, initiatives that seek to tackle school dropouts must include a gender perspective.

Avoiding to take the measures needed to solve this situation in time means missing a huge opportunity. Almost half of the population in Latin America is below 25 years old; the region has a larger working age population than a dependent population, with the potential of creating a demographic bonus that shall contribute to productivity, at least for as long as the dependence coefficient goes to values that can be sustained in time.

A better educated population is a mandatory condition for our countries to generate knowledge, promote innovation, increase their productivity and become better positioned to face the changes that come from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

For Latin America, improving the quality and relevance of education systems would contribute to reduce the levels of school dropouts and promote innovative ecosystems. In order to do that, it is key to focus on education policies, promoting collaborative efforts among every party involved, having the certainty that these efforts will pay off in the long term.

*Julián Suárez is vice president of Sustainable Development at CAF –Development Bank of Latin America.

Source: América Economía