During his opening speech to ordinary sessions, the President of the Nation mentioned the initiative to call the governors to an agreement in terms of ten State policies.
It would be interesting if this proposal contained at least one point on education, an essential aspect for the development of the country.
The true integral progress of people - and of countries - does not depend mainly on the economic, but rather on the educational.
If the current government's project is inspired by Alberdi's “Bases”, leaving out the educational aspect does not seem appropriate: “It (education) should have the place that we give to instruction in the present age of our Republics, because it is the “the most effective and most suitable means of quickly removing them from the backlog in which they exist.”
(Bases, Chapter XIII)
Certainly a common risk should be avoided in the formulation of educational policies: erring on the side of generality.
Talking about quality education or inclusive schools so that everyone can learn (concepts that are not poorly considered in themselves), remain halfway if they are not accompanied with concrete goals, responsible people in charge and execution deadlines.
A great State educational policy could be formulated in the following terms: directors and teachers of all primary and secondary schools work intentionally and focusedly, for three years, on improving their results in Language and Mathematics, measured in the system exams both at the provincial, national and even international level.
The interesting thing about the proposal is that it addresses two central elements of the curriculum that, according to existing measurements, present deficits in general terms within the system.
For example, following a report by “Argentinos for Education” on the PISA 2022 international tests, we have that 7 out of 10 students do not achieve basic levels in Mathematics, leaving Argentina in 66th place out of 81 participants.
While in Reading and Science 5 out of 10 students did not reach the minimum levels of performance.
There is more data suggesting that this challenge must be addressed urgently because it is important.
The proposal we present is inclusive and favors equal opportunities because there is no common yardstick for all institutions, since each one will seek improvement with respect to their starting points.
For this to happen, managers must have access to the results of their schools.
Even the records of some jurisdictions that also provide comparative information regarding equivalent institutions tend to be very relevant.
“In reality, the truly difficult things are all that people think they can do at any given moment,” says Julio Cortázar.
Let us believe and dream for a moment that sustained effort as an act of genuine pedagogical love is the good seed that will necessarily bear good fruit.
Let's face this goal that, although difficult, is also possible.
The only thing left is for politics to propose it, and for teachers to get excited about the challenge by thinking big and doing small.