Latin America is one of the most unequal regions in the world in terms of income and opportunities.
One of the areas in which these inequalities are most present is education.
Before the pandemic, vulnerable students lagged on average two years of schooling in learning compared to their less vulnerable peers.
This situation has been aggravated by the covid-19 crisis and the closure of schools.
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It is estimated that the learning gap between the richest and poorest students has widened by 25% (equivalent to more than six months of schooling), as a result of inequalities in access to quality non-classroom education.
This would imply that the countries of the region should increase the resources allocated to the most vulnerable population affected by the pandemic in order to reduce the learning gap.
However, few financing systems in Latin America allocate more resources where they are most needed, making it even more difficult to face the current crisis.
According to a recent IDB study, Argentina and Brazil have the largest educational financing inequality gaps, since the most vulnerable subnational governments have almost half the educational resources of the richest.
This is mainly due to disparities in local income: richer regions have a greater capacity to collect taxes and therefore can invest more in education.
In Colombia, rich municipalities also invest more per student than low-income ones, but unlike Argentina and Brazil, the Colombian financing formula focuses resources on the poorest municipalities.
However, national resources do not manage to level the differences caused by local resources.
On the other hand, Chile, Peru and Ecuador have progressive school funding, that is, higher for the most vulnerable.
In them, spending per student in the most vulnerable subnational governments is higher than in the more affluent territories.
In Chile, this is explained by a financing formula that provides
a 50% higher
per-capita subsidy (
voucher
) for underprivileged students.
In Peru, equitable financing is driven by a salary bonus policy for teachers working in disadvantaged schools (schools in rural areas, single teachers, multigrade, border schools or in conflict zones) with a salary increase of up to 30%.
In Ecuador, progressivity is due to a more discretionary political decision to focus resources on rural regions, with a lower socioeconomic level and with a larger indigenous population.
In the scenario of economic crisis that opens the pandemic, and where the education budget is expected to fall by more than 30%, progressive financing policies are needed that promote a more equitable distribution of school resources, benefiting students more vulnerable in Latin America.
These policies should include, for example, formulas that give more weight to low-income students;
incentives to attract more qualified teachers to vulnerable and rural schools;
and subsidies that help reduce fiscal inequalities between local governments.
In addition, it is necessary that these policies be transparent and institutionalized by law to guarantee a progressive and sustainable school financing model that not only depends on the political good will of the government in power.
School financing policies are effective tools that Latin American governments have at their disposal to mitigate the harmful effects of the pandemic on educational inequality, guaranteeing that all children and adolescents have a quality education regardless of their level. socioeconomic.
Gregory Elacqua
is a Principal Economist in the Education Division of the IDB.
Luana Marotta
is a consultant and
Carolina Méndez
, a specialist in that same department.
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