International Day of Education: Celebration amid Challenges

This blog is written by Luis Carrera, Bibiam Díaz, Cecilia Llambí and Dinorah Singer.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an emergency in education systems that—after almost two years—has evolved into a long-term crisis. The total or partial closure of schools affects almost two out of three children and teenagers in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 86 million students in the region are still out of their classrooms despite major government efforts to resume face-to-face learning. In the last quarter of 2021, some 47 million students were expected to go back to school, but the new wave of infections caused by the omicron variant has led to an extension of preventive closures in most countries in the region. The most worrying effect of the school closure is dropout, as UNESCO estimates that more than three million Latin American and Caribbean students will not return to the formal education system.

The main challenges that the pandemic has posed for education systems are in the form of the deepening deficit and the socioeconomic learning gap, as a result of unequal access to resources to sustain education (both in schools and at home) and the greater impact that the pandemic has had on lower-income households. In Latin America and the Caribbean, only 77% of 15-year-old students have access to the internet at home, and this challenge has been more pressing for the most disadvantaged groups. Such coverage, including for students with connectivity at home via electronic devices (computers, tablets) or mobile phones, is 19 percentage points lower than the OECD average. Moreover, coverage is significantly lower among low-income students: Only 45% of students in the bottom quintile have internet access at home, and 60% do not have a computer at home.

Latin America and the Caribbean could well be one of the most impacted regions in terms of the percentage of students below the minimum proficiency level. The simulation tool applied by the World Bank for the year 2020 helps us estimate that this percentage could rise from 55% to 71% after 10 months of school closures.

Policy strategies should, therefore, focus on ensuring conditions to prevent early school dropout, reconnect children and young people to the education system, and learning standardization, with a special focus on the most vulnerable population (see Policies to reduce educational gaps in the post-pandemic era). We cite below some of these policies in which CAF is providing support through financing and/or technical assistance to the countries of the region:

1. A timely diagnosis of learning situations when resuming face-to-face classes is critical to understanding the effect of the pandemic on students per grade, and according to socioeconomic context, geographical location, gender or disability condition. To this end, one option is to design and distribute tests to offer schools a diagnostic tool of their students’ learning process, which allows them to devise standardization plans tailored to their needs (examples include Chile’s “Comprehensive Learning Diagnosis” and Uruguay’s “Aristas en Clase” online test). Another option is the application of large-scale standardized tests, which help identify areas of performance (including social-emotional skills) and population groups that require special attention, even more so if they are applied universally. In this area, through the Program to Improve Access and Educational Quality in Jujuy, Argentina (PROMACE) CAF is currently supporting the Ministry of Education of that province in the implementation of the First Census Learning Evaluation of the Province, aimed at students of the third year of secondary education.
   
   
2. Overall incorporation of technologies in education. The pandemic exposed the need to promote and boost the incorporation of technologies in educational systems, to address not only the availability of technological infrastructure and devices, but also the adoption of a comprehensive approach to the use of technology to transform the way we teach and learn, and for a better management of educational policy and programs. To this end, we need to address the multiple deficits and heretogeneities of the region’s educational systems, from the availability of infrastructure and technological devices, to the revision of the teaching model, contents and training and support for teachers. In this context, CAF developed a regional study which puts forward a comprehensive agenda for the adoption of technology in education, while promoting the development of a diagnostic tool that helps identify the level of progress of a country in the areas of the approach (governance, teaching models, connectivity, data protection, teacher training and support and information systems) and outline roadmaps to develop programs and policies in this area. This tool is currently being applied in the province of Santa Fe, within the framework of the CAF-funded “Santa Fe + Conectada Program” in Argentina.
   
   In addition, CAF finances and provides technical assistance to several initiatives related to: a) connectivity infrastructure for homes and schools (Santa Fe + Conectada Program, Argentina); b) curricular redesigns and provision of technological devices for schools, students and teachers (Program of Integration and Social and Environmental Development of the Municipality of Camaçari, Brazil; PROMACE-Jujuy Argentina; Trinidad and Tobago Online Education Improvement Project); c) development of digital platforms and content for teaching (Santa Fe + Conectada, Argentina; Virtual Learning Platform for students and teachers, Costa Rica; Production of virtual objects and teaching training for technical secondary school, Panama); d) development of curricular content, platforms, material and teacher training for the teaching of computer science, including distance learning (iniciativa PROGRAM.AR, Entrepreneurial Capacity Program, Argentina);  e) on-the-job teacher training to strengthen digital skills and the use of technology in teaching (Santa Fe + Conectada, PROMACE- Jujuy, Argentina; MOOC Digital transformation of teaching) ; and (f) expansion of alternative school models using technology for access to education for young people in remote rural areas (ICT-mediated rural schools, PROMACE Jujuy/UNICEF).    
3. Early warning systems for the prevention of early school dropout. With the closure of schools, the pandemic has prevented students from taking classes in person, thus impacting not only their learning, but the interaction and connection with their peers and teachers, and affecting educational continuity. Addressing and preventing school dropout requires identifying at-risk students, through early warning systems that use administrative information at the individual, family, school or community level. Then, it is necessary to address these cases in a timely manner, with strategies to prevent their permanent exit from the system. CAF has recently supported this strategy in Argentina and Uruguay, promoting: a) the strengthening of nominal school trajectory management systems (Trajectory Protection System of Uruguay; “Back to School” School Infrastructure Revamping Project - Comprehensive Educational Digital Information System (SInIDE) Argentina) ; b) the development of models for predicting/identifying students at risk of dropping out that can be integrated into information systems (“Hands on Data” initiative in Uruguay and in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Mendoza in Argentina) and c) through the construction of political consensus and roadmaps for the establishment of comprehensive information systems taking advantage of the exchange of information and good information practices in the implementation between provinces in Argentina (“Consensus for Education” initiative coordinated by Fundación Observatorio Argentinos por la Educación)
4. Improvement of school infrastructure: The pandemic exposed the importance of schools meeting minimum building conditions so that face-to-face educational activities take place in a safe and healthy environment. These conditions include the possibility for students, teachers and other school staff to interact in ample, well-ventilated environments, and with basic services to ensure appropriate hygiene. Thus, CAF finances multiple initiatives for the construction, expansion and improvement of educational infrastructure, including: the “Back to School” Infrastructure Revamping Project, carried out by Argentina’s Ministry of Education, with a focus on ensuring safe conditions for the return to school and with nationwide reach; the provincial program Santa Fe + Conectada, with a focus on initial and secondary schools; PROMACE Jujuy, which reaches all educational levels and incorporates the expansion of rural schools with technology; the Program for the Expansion and Improvement of School Infrastructure in the Province of Buenos Aires, with a focus on primary and secondary schools; PROINFRA Brazil (municipality of Fortaleza), with a focus on full-time schools and early childhood education centers; and educational infrastructure projects through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Uruguay, with a focus mainly on initial and primary education. Cognizant of the importance of school infrastructure for the safe return to school, CAF has prepared a set of Guides for the formulation and design of educational infrastructure to support public sector stakeholders, program implementers and managers in the formulation of educational infrastructure actions, from their inception to the production of the executive project.