Q24N (EFE) The Latin American and Caribbean region is going through a major education crisis, because, far from increasing investment to promote social mobility and reduce inequality, state budgets are being cut, experts warned in Lima, Peru on Thursday.
The third round table discussion of the high-level seminar of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) addressed the issues of “how to reduce inequality and promote inclusion and social mobility,” and brought together ministers, professors and coordinators knowledgeable in social issues.
The general coordinator of the State of Education Report of the State of the Nation Program of Costa Rica, Isabel Román, stressed that education should be put at the center of the debate, but even so its budget is being cut.
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“The region is facing the worst education crisis in the last 40 years in terms of resources, learning and management. And recognizing this crisis and not normalizing it is the first step to act urgently,” she said, adding that it must be given the place it deserves because it is the main public good to get out of the traps of inequality.
«Inequality is a problem that requires long-term agreements, solutions are not dissociated from fiscal issues, today countries are going through fiscal adjustments where issues that require sustainable financing such as education are not being prioritized by governments», she said.
A reduction that is generating not only a lower quality of education, but also setbacks where important achievements were being made such as in educational coverage and closing access gaps.
«We cannot make fiscal improvements at the expense of the opportunities of girls, boys and adolescents», she added, declaring that today’s school is the society and economy of tomorrow.
The experts pointed out that political changes conspire against progress, since social policies must be long-term.
For her part, the national secretary of care and family of the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger of Brazil, Laís Abramo, focused her speech on highlighting the importance of recognizing care as the rights of all people, a public good without which societies as a whole, and therefore economies, do not function.
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However, she pointed out that “this work overload” in caring for children, sick patients or the elderly is a barrier to women’s professional training and entry into the labor market.
Therefore, it becomes a “very important factor in the reproduction of poverty,” she said.
In addition, the professor of public and international affairs and sociology at Princeton University, Florencia Torche, explained that the best policy to promote mobility is to reduce inequality and therefore, promote specific policies that allow children not to depend on their parents to improve their social position.
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