It took 24 hours for President Javier Milei’s government to react to a report by the Argentinos por la Educación (“Argentines for Education”) NGO, which noted that only one in ten students completed secondary school on time and as expected
The response from the Human Capital Ministry, headed by Sandra Pettovello, forms the basis of a plan intending to put an end to school dropouts.
The ruling party did not wish to respond immediately to the striking figures disclosed. But nevertheless, they revealed the guidelines of a joint programme with provincial governments seeking to tackle the issue.
To achieve this objective, an “early nominal warning system” will be implemented, allowing for the timely identification of students at risk. The plan also includes the creation of a nationwide federal scholarship network, a reinforcement of the National Literacy Plan, and renewed efforts to better understand what is happening in primary schools.
Within the Education Secretariat, it is believed that a child’s early schooling is key to detecting problems and preventing future dropouts.
Meanwhile, at secondary school level, education officials have pledged to proceed in several stages.
First, they will introduce an “institutional organisation and an academic framework,” including “new forms of cohabitation, the flexible use of time and space, and assessment and attendance systems based on educational criteria.” After that, “a reorganisation of learning and teaching/curricular design,” including “curriculum design, selection of core knowledge, interdisciplinary integration, curriculum flexibility and assessments aimed at continuous improvement.”
Finally a greater focus on “school journeys,” with “attention paid to overall wellbeing, differentiated support, the inclusion of technologies and the strengthening of transitions between levels of education and into academic and working life.”
Argentinos por la Educación, which prepared the document, described the situation as “an emergency” that requires action from the authorities.
Sol Alzú, a member of the NGO, told Perfil that governments “are focused on literacy” but noted that by the third grade, half of all children do not achieve the expected reading skills for their age.
“When they finish primary school,only 45 out of every 100 reach secondary school on time and as expected, and for secondary school, the figure drops to the one we reported. There is a margin for remedial action, especially focused on maths. Our index has shown a decline in secondary school performance due to learning difficulties,” the expert explained.
The 2024 results show a deterioration in comparison with previous studies: for the 2011-2022 period, the School Results Index or IRE revealed that 13 out every 100 students completed secondary school on time, whereas for the 2009-2020 cohort the figure was 16 out of 100.
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