Latin America And The Caribbean Reiterates Commitment To Basic Learning

Basic learning has been the top priority of education ministers in Latin America and the Caribbean as they gathered in Bogota, Colombia to reaffirm their commitment to “promote urgent educational recovery.

The World Bank reported that the meeting aims to discuss and agree on concrete measures to ensure that all children and adolescents get the basic learning skills that they need to reach their full potential and become essential units of the society.

The pandemic has undoubtedly affected 1.5 years of schooling, which according to World Bank, could have set back learning outcome for more than 10 years.

“Preliminary evidence from several countries shows greater losses at the primary than at the secondary level and among students at the lowest socioeconomic levels. Collective learning losses will hurt Latin America and the Caribbean in the future, exacerbating inequalities and jeopardizing economic growth,” the World Bank wrote in a press release.

Basic skills include reading, writing, mathematics, and socioemotional skills, which will equip the students for the real world.

“The educational losses in our countries represent a real catastrophe, it is urgent to work to reverse them as soon as possible and with special attention to the youngest and most vulnerable,” said Luis Benveniste, regional director of Human Development at the World Bank.

Garry Conille, UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that governments must act as soon as they can before the numbers of school dropouts increase.