#NEWS : Latin America suffers education inequality: U.N.

SANTIAGO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations report released Tuesday says education systems in Latin America must be reformed to guarantee equality of education opportunity for the whole population.

U.N. body the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), based in Chilean capital Santiago, presented the report by its executive secretary, Alicia Barcena, at a press conference.

The report, Latin American Social Panorama 2010, said "progress in coverage, access and quality in educational provision in recent decades has created stratification in knowledge and achievements between education systems."

Uneven access to education was particularly noticable at the pre-school stage, with large disparities among urban areas, rural areas and indigenous people, ECLAC said.

Pre-school education, which covers children aged 3-5 years, has become particularly important for the region, given its impact on pupils for the rest of their lives in education, according to the report. The situation in the region differs widely, with nearly universal coverage in some nations while others having less than 30 percent pre-school coverage.

Higher education is also extremely skewed, with only one poor student earning a degree to every 27 wealthy graduates. Overall, only 8.3 percent of the population aged 25 to 29 completed five-year study following high school.

The report also said the education systems were failing in one of their main duties: separating children's educational achievements from the difference with which they join the system.

It also said it was important everyone had access to information technology, and growing access to technology was helping counteract learning shortfalls.

"While the digital divide exacerbates the learning gap, broader communication, social networks, access to productive work, a public voice and digital convergence is helping reverse this effect," the report said.

ECLAC called for a comprehensive approach to tackle problems in educational structures and institutions and the life cycle areas.

"Under the conditions now seen in most nations in the region, those who do not complete secondary school are expected to have a high possibility of social vulnerability, because their wages tend to be low," the report said.

In order to break this trend, ECLAC recommended extending coverage for children starting at six years old, and extending the school day to incorporate the use of digital technology in education, as well as further support for families via the transfer of state resources, with payouts conditioned on regular school attendance for pupils.

It also called for extending apprenticeships to 15-20 years old so they could enter the labor market and making higher education compatible with access to excluded sections of the society.

ECLAC wants a remarkable increase in public spending in pre-schools, primary and lower secondary schools, and said broader access for poor pupils was needed in upper secondary and tertiary education.

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