Unesco warns of a learning crisis for schoolchildren in Latin America

Latin America and the Caribbean are facing a crisis in education, with their students stuck in learning since 2013 and without achieving, in a large percentage, the minimum fundamental skills in reading and mathematics.

This was revealed by the results of the Unesco Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE 2019), which includes 16 countries in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The data of the study, whose precedent dates back to 2015, did not show significant improvements in student learning, which even lowered their results between 2013 and 2019, and also exposed a serious insufficiency in reading and mathematics of third-year students. sixth grade of primary school.

In the subject of reading in the third grade of schooling, on average, 44.3% of students were at the lowest level of performance, and in mathematics, 47.7% did so.

In sixth grade, meanwhile, only 23.3% in reading, 49.2% in mathematics, and 37.7% in Science reached the lowest performance level I.

The countries that showed a statistically significant rise in scores, in all the areas evaluated and for both grades, were Peru, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, of which the first two presented the most marked progress.

Regarding gender differences, there are five countries where gaps persist in favor of men in mathematics (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua) and it is a trend in the region that women obtain better results in reading.

It was also observed that, in science, in seven of the 16 participating countries (Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay) gender gaps were detected in favor of girls.

“The ERCE 2019 data indicate that, just before the pandemic, the region was, on average, practically stagnant at low levels of achievement in those competencies that constitute the foundations to continue learning,” explained Claudia Uribe, director of the Unesco Regional Office, based in Santiago.

“This speaks of an entire generation at risk of not being able to develop their full potential. This is why educational measures and reforms to improve learning from the earliest years of schooling cannot wait and must be prioritized, “added the authority, according to a statement.

Higher socioeconomic status, better achievements

The results of the ERCE 2019 also yielded information on some factors that are associated with learning, such as that between 40% and 50% of the differences between students can be attributed to the characteristics of the establishment they attend.

Thus, the study revealed that the higher the socioeconomic level of the older schools were the achievements of their students, “which is an indicator that they are not fulfilling a role of equalizing opportunities,” according to UNESCO.

The organism also warned about the systematic disadvantages that students of native peoples have in terms of their performance, which can materialize in a gap of up to 100 points in this evaluation.

“We need to turn our attention to fundamental learnings and have a plan to strengthen them. Only in this way can we move forward as a region in making the right to quality education effective without leaving anyone behind, ”said Uribe.

“We invite all countries, together with UNESCO, to urgently establish a broad and inclusive agenda that enables all children in our region to acquire the fundamental learning to continue learning,” he concluded.

The ERCE 2019 is the fourth study carried out by the Latin American Laboratory for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education (LLECE) of Unesco since it began work in 1995.

In its application, carried out in 2019, before the pandemic, more than 160,000 children in the region who were in third and sixth grade of primary school participated, and their performance in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics and science was evaluated.