Argentine democracy is celebrating its 40th anniversary and these are times when various specialists analyze what happened since we emerged from the darkest night of the dictatorship.
Undoubtedly, there are chiaroscuro and many pending accounts.
One of those pending accounts
is education
, one of the problems that voting and citizen participation was precisely going to solve since 1983, and that was reflected in that famous phrase by Alfonsín who announced (or naively believed) that with democracy you eat , is cured and
-also- is educated
.
But 40 years passed and far from resolving the educational question, Argentina
added new problems
to it .
Above all, from the little importance that the leadership (not only politics) gave to the matter, and the enormous advance of the knowledge society, which generates new challenges that few dare to face.
In the end, the numbers show that, in these 40 years, the country has managed to fulfill the promise of
greater access to school
.
Millions of new students joined, especially in kindergarten and secondary school (primary school was almost universal).
And there was also
more investment
after the Financing Law (2006), although the goal of 6% of GDP was met in only two years.
But more resources did not make this greater inclusion of students translate
into better learning
.
Quite the opposite.
Today, only 43 out of 100 students finish primary school on time and at an acceptable level.
And
only 16 reach the end of high school in that condition
.
Meanwhile, other countries -even in the region- are finding
formulas to include and improve
.
Just one piece of information: Argentina went from being in 2nd place in Latin America in reading comprehension results in the PISA tests (15-year-old students) in the year 2000, only surpassed by Mexico;
to 7th place in 2018
(last edition of this test),
surpassed by Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia
.
The world changes at an ever faster rate, but if you compare an Argentine school from 1983 with that same school today, you won't see big changes.
Almost the same pedagogies and organization, the same teacher training.
School and teaching formats that do not give answers.
The closure of schools due to the pandemic brought the crisis to the forefront and, at the same time,
the value that families place on their children's education
.
It is time to live up to that demand.
Because while it is true that
education is only possible in a democracy
(good education can be given), it is also necessary to help it.
And that a committed leadership
is needed to achieve it.
look also
More crisis, less debate: since there was a crack, the number of educational laws approved has decreased
look also
City: they took away the social plan from almost 1,500 families for not sending their children to school