[ad_1]
The economic crisis derived from the pandemic affected thousands of families from paid private schools, which, in some cases, have even had to seek new educational alternatives for their children, given the impossibility of continuing to pay the monthly payments.
This is clear from the latest enrollment figures from the Ministry of Education, dated September, which indicate that paid private establishments they lost the 2.35% of its students, equivalent to 7,800 students, being the sector hardest hit this year.
According to the data, which you accessed Third, the enclosures subsidized individuals, unlike the rest, their enrollment increased by 0.48%, equivalent to 9,400 students, so presumably there was a transfer of families from one type of establishment to the other.
Instead, municipal schools and those dependent on Local Education Services lost 1.35% of their enrollment (17,500 students). Adding and subtracting, between all types of establishment, the Chilean school system is 0.43% smaller than last year, which implies a loss of 15,600 students.
The president of the Federation of Private Education Institutions (Fide), Guido Crino, says that, in the case of the private sector, it could be presumed that “families from paid schools that cannot pay have requested their transfer to subsidized individuals”, although it says that it has no evidence that this has happened in their group, they have lowered the cost of schooling, repaired debts and expanded scholarships.
In the case of municipal schools, his hypothesis is that “Presumably there is a loss of enrollment in cases of school dropouts”, because the poorest population attends there.
The Undersecretary of Education, Jorge Poblete, say what “We are making every effort to face the possible dropout of students from the educational system that this pandemic could bring. Our goal is that the boys, girls and young people who have not had contact with their establishments this year, reconnect with their schools “, for which they deployed the plan “We are on time.”
In addition, it points out that the school system has quotas in case families from paid private schools need to migrate due to financial problems.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/copesa/L3J3JSKMZFEV5KVCA6Q7WGL6OU.png)
A few weeks ago, Mineduc reported to Congress the preliminary enrollment figures for the month of July, which indicated an even greater loss of students in the paid private sector, which reached 4.8%, and which established that the country had 3.6 million schoolchildren.
The reduction in this loss of students between July and September is explained by the fact that the ministry calibrates the figures as students enroll or change schools. However, the July figures allow us to understand a little more the impact of the crisis on paid schools.
For example, the regions where private schools had lost the most children relative to their endowment were those of Arica and Parinacota, Atacama and Antofagasta. While in the Metropolitan Region, the communes with the greatest decline in students in this educational sector were Vitacura, Providencia and Santiago.
Jose Weinstein, Director of the Educational Leadership Development Center of the U. Diego Portales, explains that, internationally, it has been seen that public establishments are adding enrollment, due to the same economic crisis that affects Chilean families.
Public education here has a great opportunity to revitalize itself, to stop losing enrollment and start to grow, as with the municipal school initiative promoted by Mayor Joaquín Lavín in Las Condes. And it is also an opportunity for subsidized private schools without co-payment, which can grow
José Weinstein, director of the Center for the Development of Educational Leadership UDP
In any case, it suggests that the transfer from families from private to public schools is not automatic, as it will depend on how attractive the latter become. “Here we see a push factor (the economic crisis), but for it to become a trend, there has to be a sustained pull factor in public education,” he explains.
Paulina Araneda, Director of Grupo Educativo, also believes that public schools have an opportunity to attract families who today cannot pay, for which they must develop strategies for joint territorial work. “There is an opportunity for coordination and collaboration between schools, which allows them to provide more effective teaching strategies for schoolchildren”, Comments.
