| |  | News and activities  | 3 September 2012 | 9/3/2012 |  22.1 million children and adolescents in the region are not in school or at serious risk of dropping out | | | | | Send by E-Mail  | Print format  | Share this page | | | | This is the main finding of a report entitled "Finishing School. A Right for Children's Development, A Joint Effort" presented today by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) through the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS). | | | |  In Latin America and the Caribbean there are approximately 117 million children and adolescents in preschool, primary and basic secondary education age groups. However, 6.5 million of them do not attend school and 15.6 million either enter school one or two years behind the normal age for their school grade or repeat grades.
This is the main finding of a report entitled “Finishing School. A Right for Children´s Development, A Joint Effort” presented today by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) through the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS).
In recent decades, the educational systems in Latin America and the Caribbean have expanded their reach to cover the vast majority of children and adolescents. Regional initiatives, such as the “Education Goals for 2021”, have aimed to improve quality and equity in education and counter poverty and inequality. However, there are still many pockets of actual or potential exclusion: children who enter the educational system late, who repeatedly fail, who do not benefit from learning experiences that allow them to develop their capacities and who encounter discrimination.
This report identifies the barriers that hamper a sustained, timely and full education and outlines appropriate strategies for an approach to the issues. The methodological perspective adopted presents an innovative approach for the region because it looks at the barriers to education from a supply-perspective rather than the demand-side problems used to analyze the issue in the past.
Five dimensions of exclusion
Five dimensions of exclusion are identified within the framework of the report:
Dimension 1: boys and girls of preschool and primary school age not in preschool or primary school.
Dimension 2: boys and girls of primary age not in primary or secondary school, distinguishing between those who have never attended primary school, those who have started school late, or those who have participated for a restricted amount of time and who drop out without completing the whole level.
Dimension 3: boys, girls and adolescents of basic secondary school age not in primary or secondary school.
Dimension 4: boys and girls in primary school but at serious risk of dropping out.
Dimension 5: boys, girls and adolescents in basic secondary school, but in serious risk of dropping out.
This report stresses that boys, girls and adolescents with disabilities or living in rural areas or either indigenous and Afro-descendants are at greater risk of exclusion or grade repetition.The data analyzed showed that in some countries less than 50% of the secondary schoolage population in rural areas is attending school. There is also a clear link between child labour and school attendance - students aged between 12 and 14 years who work showed lower rates of attendance than those who do not work. Furthermore, in some countries, Afrodescendant boys and girls find themselves facing late entry or educational failure more frequently.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
To read the full report in Spanish, or the Executive Summary and the complete Press Release in English, visit UNESCO Institute for Statistics website.
For more information, please contact:
UNICEF - Regional Office for the Latin Americas and the Caribbean
Tamar Hahn,
Tel.: + 507 301 7485Mob.: + 507 64302505
thahn unicef.org
Isabel Andrades
Tel.: +507 301 7423 Mob.: +507 638 75645
iandradesunicef.org
UNESCO / UNESCO Santiago
Victoria Uranga
Tel.: +56 2 472 46 14
www.unesco.org/santiago www.facebook.com/unescosantiago | | | | | |
