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IS EDUCATION A RIGHT OR A SERVICE IN
COLOMBIA?
A system for the reproduction of social inequalities
¿Es la educación un derecho o un servicio en Colombia? Un sistema de
reproducción de las desigualdades sociales
Diego Javier Gómez Calderón
diegoj.gomez@unad.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2619-5673
Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia -UNAD- Bogotá (Colombia)
Bernardo Alfredo Hernández-Umaña
bernardo.hernandez@unad.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7388-9507
Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia -UNAD- Bogotá (Colombia)
Elkin Arturo Betancourt Ramírez
elkin.betancourt@unad.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3079-4062
Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia -UNAD- Bogotá (Colombia)
Juan Antonio Fuentes Esparrell
fuentese@ugr.es
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4821-7092
Universidad de Granada (España)
Recibido: 18/05/2023
Evaluado: 18/06/2023
Revisado: 19/06/2023
Aceptado: 20/06/2023
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Resumen
La educación sigue siendo un importante instrumento de política pública y un
mecanismo cultural. Sin embargo, dependiendo de diferentes condiciones,
puede ser un escenario de exclusión constante en la sociedad o el promotor del
desarrollo social, la innovación, la ciencia y la tecnología. La pregunta de
partida de este artículo de reflexión busca saber cómo se aborda la educación:
¿es un derecho o un servicio que reproduce las desigualdades sociales en
Colombia? Para responder a esto, este documento se divide en cuatro partes.
El primero es una breve introducción que contextualiza el problema
identificado. El segundo presenta las causas que originan el sistema de
reproducción de las desigualdades sociales en el sistema educativo a partir de
dos hipótesis planteadas por García Villegas y Gómez-Estrada. Estos son: i) el
enfrentamiento entre partidos liberales y conservadores que condiciona la
relación Estado-Iglesia a la hora de implementar un modelo educativo; y ii) la
continua tensión entre gobiernos, sindicatos de docentes y universitarios que
defienden ideas políticas de izquierda. La tercera parte contiene un análisis
descriptivo sobre la segregación en calidad y clase del sistema educativo
nacional, que comprende la educación inicial, la educación primaria (primaria),
la educación media y media superior (secundaria y bachillerato), y la educación
postsecundaria. -educación secundaria o terciaria (enseñanza superior).
Finalmente, se realizan las conclusiones y consideraciones finales.
Abstract
Education is still an important instrument of public policy and a cultural
mechanism. However, depending on different conditions, it can be a scenario
for constant exclusion in society or the promoter of social development,
innovation, science, and technology. The starting question of this reflection
article seeks to know how education is approached: is it a right or a service that
reproduces social inequalities in Colombia? To answer this, this paper is divided
into four parts. The first is a brief introduction contextualizing the identified
problem. The second one presents the causes that originate the system for the
reproduction of social inequalities in the education system based on two
hypotheses raised by García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada. These are: i) the
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confrontation between liberal and conservative parties that conditions the State-
Church relationship when implementing an educational model; and ii) the
continuous tension between governments, teachers’ unions and university
students who defend leftist political ideas. The third part contains a descriptive
analysis on segregation in terms of quality and class of the national education
system, which comprises early childhood education, primary education
(elementary school), lower secondary and upper secondary education (middle
school and high school), and post-secondary or tertiary education (higher
education). Finally, conclusions and final considerations are made.
Palabras Clave: Educación; derecho; desigualdad social; mecanismo cultural,
servicio público.
Keywords: Education; right; social inequality; cultural mechanism, public
service.
“Tearing down public education would mean destroying illusions; it is the cost they are paying
for keeping that illusion. A large part of public education is what it costs the bourgeoisie to
maintain the illusion of most of the population that their fate is not determined by their birth, but
is due to or results from the proper use and utilization of the opportunities provided by the
system through education.”
Estanislao Zuleta
[Quote translated from its original in Spanish]
1. Introduction
The book La Quinta Puerta, edited by García-Villegas, Cárdenas, and
Fergusson (2021); begins with the premise, ―four places are available to those
who have no money: the hospital, the jail, the church, and the cemetery.‖ This
statement became part of a bolero (a Spanish music genre and dance) by the
anguished lament of Daniel Santos and is now the phrase that motivates this
reflection article focused on education. Education is understood as the culturally
constructed space for developing and transmitting socially accepted civic
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knowledge and values. However, it has not significantly been the scenario for
social transformation in several latitudes, especially in Colombia, where such
knowledge and values should contribute to a better fate for its people. On the
contrary, it has become a mechanism for reproducing deep socioeconomic
inequalities in the country. Thus creating cultural codes that feed exclusion in
this distressing careerism that characterizes the social class in Colombia,
turning into a supply and demand service according to the user.
From this perspective, although education continues to be the main public
policy instrument and cultural mechanism to improve people's social conditions,
it does not provide any alternative place to avoid the fate lamented by Daniel
Santos in his bolero. Education in Colombia reproduces a social class
phenomenon that, for reasons reviewed in this article, causes a kind of social
segregation expressed through the lack of intergenerational social mobility, the
cultural capital, consumption types, and cultural codes reproduced in the
education system. This has generated a loop, that is, educational traps that
prevent bridging socioeconomic gaps and harmonizing cultural differences.
Moreover, such traps increase this social differentiation when it comes to capital
accumulation.
Social segregation reproduced by the national education system has worsened
due to the Covid-19 pandemic, thus enhancing the capacity of this system to
propagate social inequalities. Overall, segregation can be explained by multiple
causes, including: 1) the differences related to infrastructure and endowments
for the public and private education systems; 2) the quality of education based
both on teacher qualifications and on the competencies and contextual
conditions developed by students from public and private institutions; 3) the gap
in dropout rates in both systems; 4) the status and social connections built
depending on whether one belongs to the public or private system. This
indicates that a structural part of the segregation generated by the Colombian
education system comes from the lack of a model that harmonizes the public
and private education systems, which should coexist as a requirement for social
choice. However, such choices should not be conditioned by the apparent gaps
in quality and social class between the two systems; and finally, 5) the social
valuation of the educational performance in both systems.
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As García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada (2021) state, ―public education in
Colombia is strongly biased by social class.‖ This has created an education
system with higher participation from private education throughout the levels of
education. While in most socioeconomically developed countries, the State is
responsible for a large part of the educational programs at the early childhood,
primary, secondary, and post-secondary education levels, in Colombia, there
has been a growing dynamic of increasing private educational programs. This
dynamic has led to a selection process based on the belonging to a social
class. ―The children of rich people tend to study in exclusive high-quality
schools while children from poor families study in public or private schools of
average or poor quality‖ (Cárdenas, Fergusson and García Villegas (2021); not
to mention greater gaps when analyzing indigenous, black and peasant
communities.
Colombia has not been able to build a public notion of education because, from
its origins as a Republic, education has served as an instrument for domination.
Hence, the social tensions to define the education system, which the Church
and powerful political groups have controlled. These institutions have prioritized
the formation of values from education, such values mainly close to the regime
of political power, instead of prioritizing the formation of quality and relevant
knowledge with the country’s productive and social capacity. In short, education
in Colombia has been more of a mechanism for power than a true alternative for
social mobility.
In social terms, power is exercised through the control of bodies since such
control makes it possible to enforce an ideal, a government, or a social relation.
However, in modernity, power is no longer limited to the direct subjugation of
bodies, as value can be created through intentional action, whether in the form
of a consumer, a worker, an owner of capital, or a citizen. Consequently,
education has become part of the main means of domination today and has
also been enhanced by social control instruments arising from the Covid-19
pandemic, which will be analyzed later in this paper.
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2. The Root of Things
In the last decades, there has been a growing trend worldwide called by
different authors the elite education (2018) mainly associated with private
education. However, in highly socially and economically developed countries,
this system coexists with massive and good quality public education, mainly at
the elementary level, even in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
This coexistence of public and private models with high-quality education
represents democratic societies and guarantors of equal opportunities.
Unfortunately, this dynamic has not been present in Colombia, where wide gaps
in quality and status between public and private systems have led to social
segregation based on whether one belongs to the public or private education
system.
In literature, there are arguments supporting different hypotheses as to why the
Colombian education system has evolved that way, especially regarding the
limited capacity to create opportunities regardless of social class or social and
territory context. Nevertheless, the starting point for this reflection comprises the
hypotheses proposed by García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada (2021), which are
based on a series of political-religious tensions that prevented the consolidation
of a state educational project that would be a source of opportunities for society.
These tensions included: (i) the confrontation between liberal and conservative
parties that conditioned the State-Church relationship when implementing an
educational model; and (ii) the continuous tension between governments,
teachers’ unions and university students who defended leftist political ideas.
The country’s establishment as an independent Republic brought about a series
of contradictions and lags from the colony regarding the consolidation of
administrative bodies that would be able to channel the new freedom and self-
determination paradigms of the people. Although, at the time, there was a need
for a change in the institutions and rules associated with political power, this
consensus did not include the need for a change in social values, mainly linked
to the Catholic religion, which would enable the consolidation of a secular,
liberal and democratic state. The country burst into self-determination as a
Republic, but unfortunately, with social and religious values from the previous
regime. Certainly, the Creole elites, which constituted the first administrative
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bodies of the State, gave total power to the Church to continue being the
provider of social and religious values, mainly from education, as happened in
the Colony.
In this regard, García and Gómez (2021) state that: ―The defenders of tradition
did not want their children and new generations to be educated with values
other than religious ones, as these were for them the very foundation of the
social order.‖ This is very interesting because the country’s independence led to
a regime of substitution of powers, but not to a substitution of the social and
moral values required to consolidate a secular, liberal and democratic State. In
the end, that independence was purely a substitution of control by Creole
powers, with no solid social base that would transform their welfare and
liberties.
In Groot (1953), since colonial times, the Church was in control of primary,
secondary (lower and upper) and post-secondary (higher) education in most of
the country and was so until the early twentieth century, when the ―Revolution
on the March‖ (Revolución en Marcha) by Alfonso López Pumarejo (1934 –
1938) (2004), produced a transformation of the national education system. This
gave rise to a new tension, the central root of the second hypothesis, which will
be reviewed below.
One of the main factors of the tension created by the Church-State relationship
was the management of the education system. Such tension was not based on
a system of religious beliefs, but on the need of certain opponents of political
powers of the time to separate the State from the moral principles of the
Church. Clearly, this was reflected in the political constitution of the time [0].
This dispute reached political parties of the time; on the one hand, radical
members of the conservative party perceived the Church’s loss of power,
mainly concerning the administration of the education system, as a loss of the
moral and social order of the Republic. On the other hand, the Liberal Party and
some moderate conservatives expressed the need for the State to assume a
major role in educating the population based on secular social values.
The purpose of this reflection is not to go into the historical details that support
this hypothesis, but to analyze the implications of this Church-State tension to
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this day, which has made it impossible to consolidate an educational project
that creates opportunities. It is true that the moral and political tensions
regarding the secular nature of the education system reached up to the National
Front (Frente Nacional) (2021). At that moment, through time and according to
the ideological nuance of the government in power, there were changes in the
correlation of forces and thus in the administration of the State. Even so, radical
conservatives managed to impose their vision of the education system. It is
worth mentioning that, due to the contradictions mentioned above during the
independence process, education in Colombia was never conceived as a
universal system. Instead, it was thought by the political elites, for the formation
of the generational circle related to the power groups. This gave legitimacy to
passing political and governmental power from generation to generation, which
was associated with the same class circle.
The purpose of education was the formation of moral values (morals from
Catholic principles), which allowed for social order and absolute respect for
institutional political powers, in addition to developing knowledge associated
with the basic trades of daily life. (García and Gómez, 2021)
―The relative secularization of Colombian society in the second half of the
20th century is more attributable to the modernizing effects of the market,
globalization, urbanization and the fatigue of the civil wars than to the victory of the
liberal project. Only when society became more secular and pluralistic due to the
new times, did conservatism and the Church lose much of their power and the
balance of power between the two parties became more equal.‖ (pp. 40 – 41)
[Quote translated from its original in Spanish]
While the Church-State relationship tension has lost hegemony, its
consequences persist. For example, it gave a kind of status and social
distinction to the education system, dividing the formative nature of the system
according to social classes. In addition, the formative purpose of moral values
associated with the government in power was imposed rather than the
formation of knowledge for the entire population in connection with the country’s
productive and social structure. The origins of distinction and segregation in the
education system came from the Republic’s first century, and although the
narrative and the actors have changed, the elitist spirit in the national
educational model is still present.
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Another series of tensions, especially of a political-ideological nature, was
unleashed by the coming to power of the Liberal Party, mainly in Alfonso López
Pumarejo’s government (1934-1938). These tensions increased the distrust of
the national political power elites towards a state and secular education system.
As Silva (1989) points out, the radical liberals sought to reform the education
system based on three ideological pillars: i) education as the democratic
institutions’ cornerstone; ii) regulating the separation of civil and ecclesiastical
power in the education system; and iii) defining the teaching role of the State
and how the State exercises sovereignty through the education system.
This led to the emergence of different institutions that sought to consolidate a
secular and universal educational project. Among the milestones from the late
nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries produced by the arrival of liberal
governments were: the establishment of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
the Escuela Normal Superior, the Biblioteca Nacional, women’s access to the
education system, the primary and secondary education expansion, and other
events. Of course, the Conservative Party, especially Laureano Gómez, quickly
associated this liberal educational vocation with leftist and anti-Catholic ideas.
As García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada (2021, p. 55) argue, ―the conservatives
claimed (...) that the liberal government intended to turn Colombia into a
Bolshevik nation, which implied a political practice of religious persecution with
the presence of Freemasonry and Satan‖
Although the liberal governments of the mid-twentieth century in Colombia were
clearly far from communist regimes, the influence of leftist ideologies of the time
was notorious. This new tension leads to the second hypothesis proposed by
García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada (2021), where the ideological dispute
regarding political values promoted by the education system joined the old
dispute to separate the administration of the education system from the Church.
As liberals were the main promoters of the public, secular and universal
education system, but were associated with communism, socialism and leftism
by the Conservative party leaders, the public education system ended up being
linked to the development of ideals opposed to the respect for authority and
institutions. Therefore, distrust in this system by political elites increased.
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This tension and distrust worsened after the assassination of Jorge Eliecer
Gaitán on April 9, 1948, unleashing a popular revolt of vast social dimensions.
An important part of the country's political elites associated the ―barbarism‖ from
the revolts with ―erroneous educational actions developed by the liberal
governments, especially during the Revolution on the March by Alfonso López
Pumarejo (1934-1938)‖ (1989, p. 114). The Episcopal Conference of the time
made one of such associations between revolts and the public education
system:
―We absolutely disagree with the communist leader (Gerardo Molina – the
author includes the name) appointment to head the Universidad Nacional, which
holds us harmless from the deviation of the education received by our most
brilliant youth in this institution, up to the point of leading the subversion of the
constitutional law (orden constitucional) on April 9‖ (1989, p. 114). [Quote
translated from its original in Spanish]
The political elites blamed education for the revolts, specifically the education
provided by the public system, rather than the non-conformity of the citizens
towards the regressive economic and social policies of the time. This event
unleashed what some authors call La Violencia (Violence) (2011), which has
been the root of multiple social conflicts that still affect the country today. With
the arrival of the National Front, the moral issue regarding the education system
ceased to be the central topic of discussion (however, it did not disappear). In
contrast, the ideological issue became the origin of the new tension. The
distrust of the political elites by the formation of values conducive to ―popular
barbarism‖ accentuated the lack of public education policies to expand the
national education system’s coverage and quality.
The massive migration from the countryside to the city and the significant
growth of the working class geographically located in urban territories, a
sociodemographic characteristic of the second half of the twentieth century in
Colombia, generated a strong demand for primary and secondary education in
the country. Unfortunately, the governments in power did not comprehensively
address this demand, thus creating the conditions for the emergence of private
education. According to Helg (1989), between 1946 and 1957, private schools
grew 288%, while public schools grew 112%. Particularly, low teacher
qualifications and salaries, as well as inadequate educational infrastructure,
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characterized the public system. This started shaping a social representation
where public education was associated with low-class-based education and
leftist values.
The above created the conditions for the foundation of the Colombian
Federation of Teachers- FECODE (Federación Colombiana de Educadores) in
1959. This was more of a mechanism to claim their labor rights. As Helg (1989)
states, the lack of social and economic incentives for teachers in the public
system produced a ―loss of social prestige for the profession.‖ Hence, the
belligerent and opposed attitude from FECODE, an institution that has played a
more political role, by the very nature of its creation, and the tension with the
different national governments to date.
Post-secondary education, also known as higher education or university
education, experienced a similar dynamic to primary, lower secondary, and
upper secondary education, although not at the same level of precariousness.
The tension in university education focused on student movements associated
with leftist ideologies. Within the student movements, a thesis argued that the
Conservative and Liberal parties were the country’s political elite representation,
mainly associated with the National Front. Therefore, revolutionary ideals,
mainly from France, Mexico, and Cuba, started gaining strength. This social
tension represented in the student movements made its members establish
many of the guerrilla movements of the time, reinforcing, once again, the
distrust of the hegemonic political elites in the public education system.
In fact, in the most recent Colombian constitutional history (Hurtado and Marín,
2021), at the end of the 1980s, la séptima papeleta (the seventh ballot)
8Amaya, 2013), a student movement made up of public and private university
students and professors, promoted an unprecedented citizen mobilization in the
country. These people felt overwhelmed and incessantly demanded a
transformation in the institutional framework and the recognition and guarantee
of the rights of Colombians. Since colonial times, such rights had been taken
away from them in voice and vote, keeping them excluded and with strong
inequalities that would make social injustice almost eternal amidst violence and
armed conflict. Citizens have had to endure such violent events while being
stuck in the middle of the interests of different powerful people.
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Thus, on July 4, 1991, the Constitución Política de Colombia (Political
Constitution of Colombia) was proclaimed. This one would replace the
Constitution of 1886, which had already ended. The new Political Charter
recognized rights never before acknowledged and contained not only in the
Constitution, but also in the hearts and minds of all those who clamored to be
included and accepted.
The first paragraph of Article 67 of the Political Charter states that:
―Education is a right of the individual and a public service, whose social
purpose is to enable access to knowledge, science, technology, and other
goods and values of culture.‖ [Quote translated from its original in Spanish]
After more than 30 years of this Constitution’s enactment, this human right has
still not been fully complied with, and although it is a public service with a social
purpose, it has been used as a service for private and economic interests.
The Constitutional Court of Colombia (Corte Constitucional de Colombia) is a
Court created in the new Constitution to ensure compliance with the
fundamental rights enshrined therein, including the right to education. Despite
the fact that this agency has ruled on many occasions, it has not been possible
to reduce the inequality gap in terms of access, permanence, coverage and
quality for all Colombian residents and foreigners in the country. This has been
a challenge, as will be seen later in this article.
Although educational coverage has been expanding (see Table 1), especially in
the public system, there is still no support or clear strategy to universalize
quality education as a right and public service with a social purpose. Such a
universality would create effective opportunities for social mobility and personal
self-determination.
Table 1 Gross Coverage Rate in Post-secondary Education in Colombia
Year 2009
Year 2010
Year 2011
Year 2020
35.5
37.1
40.3
53.9
Source: Own elaboration, ECLAC (2016); UNESCO (2016); MEN (2016, SNIES 2020).
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On the other hand, as mentioned by García Villegas and Gómez-Estrada (2021,
p. 72), ―many public school teachers held to their labor rights and found a
source of identity and pride in the union, which made up for the lack of
recognition of their profession as teachers by the State and society.‖ However,
the political vindication of public education by students and teachers has
resulted in governments using repression in a representative manner, thus
creating great distrust and preventing a constructive dialogue that would allow
the consolidation of a strong model of quality public education.
All these elements have produced a social stigmatization phenomenon of public
education, which has caused the migration of middle, upper middle, and upper
class students to the private education system. This situation has turned that
system into a social class mechanism and strengthened the old image of public
education as low-class-based education. As private education programs grow
throughout the country and at all levels of education, so does this system’s
social power. In consequence, the capacity for intervention and surveillance of
these institutions by control authorities has been limited. Certainly, this has
been possible under the biased interpretation of the constitutional principle of
freedom of education and university autonomy.
The governments in power have lost interest in strengthening public education
as they see a strategic selectivity by the State that guarantees private education
to the political and economic elites. From the beginning of the Republic to this
day, the distrust of these elites in building a universal, quality, and secular
public education system has been present. In that sense, incentives have been
promoted to turn education into a highly profitable business in the country, thus
pressuring society, via social class, to migrate towards private education and
therefore stigmatizing public education. All of this perversely legitimizes the
absence of state investment in the public system and the consolidation of a
project that bridges gaps, creates opportunities and does not widen the
persistent inequality in the country in the exercise of democratizing access,
permanence, coverage and quality of education.
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3. Structure of Inequality in the Colombian Education System
This section presents a descriptive analysis on segregation in the national
education system in terms of quality and class at all levels of education: early
childhood education, primary education (elementary school), lower secondary
and upper secondary education (middle school and high school), and post-
secondary or tertiary education (higher education). For this purpose, different
statistical sources, mainly the Fergusson and Flórez (2021) work, were
consulted.
From early childhood education to secondary education: Nursery school,
elementary school, middle school, and high school
For some decades now, early childhood education (nursery school) has
become a key to future school and personal performance. This is mainly due to
the multiple interdisciplinary works that support the significance of nutrition and
learning from the first years of life. However, in Colombia, it has not been
possible to integrate early childhood education into the public education system,
as the mandatory stage starts at five years of age, in kindergarten. This limits
universal access to the education system for the early childhood population,
depending on their families’ socioeconomic class.
Figure 1 shows higher attendance to educational and care institutions when
households are in a wealthier quartile. While in households in the poorest
quartile (0), only 36% of children attend these institutions. In the case of
households in the wealthiest quartile (4), they reach 47% of attendance. This
shows that the socioeconomic possibilities of households condition the first
stage in the educational process in Colombia.
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Figure 1
Early Childhood Population Attendance to Educational/Care Institutions, Graph description from
left and bottom: Percentage of children attending educational or care institutions / wealth
quartile. Percentage of children aged five or under attending educational or care institutions,
according to wealth quartiles calculated from an index of holding assets by household (1=25%
poorest; and so on, up to the quartile that includes the 25% richest) (García et. al., 2021)
The gaps in access to early childhood education establish the first differences in
school performance. These are related to belonging to the public or private
education system and, therefore, to belonging to a household with a lower or
higher level of wealth. There is a test called the Peabody Visual Imagery
Vocabulary Test (Prueba de Vocabulario de Imágenes Visuales Peabody -
TVIP), which measures school skills that correlate with different intelligence
tests. When this test was submitted to the Colombian Longitudinal Survey by
Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, it was found that children belonging to
households of a lower wealth quintile enter public institutions and obtain lower
results. On the contrary, children in households in the highest wealth quintile go
to private institutions and obtain better results in the TVIP test (see Figure 2).
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Figure 2
Verbal Ability and Household Wealth by Type of Nursery School
[Graph description from left to right and from bottom to top: TVIP score / Wealth Quintile /
Average Wealth Quintile / Average TVIP score / Type of Nursery School / Public / Private]
Note: The left vertical axis measures the average scores on the Peabody Visual Imagery
Vocabulary Test - TVIP, by type of nursery school, for three-year-old children. The right vertical
axis measures the average wealth quintile of children’s households, calculated from a
household asset index. Public nursery schools include official daycare centers, preschools,
kindergartens, and community homes, children's homes and community kindergartens of the
Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar). (García et. al.,
2021)
These gaps are highly significant as they set the course of future school
performance, which is related to the level of household wealth. In addition,
school performance is subsumed by the education system; so the fact that
students with a lower performance from households in the lowest wealth
quintiles enter the public system reinforces the idea of segregation in the
education system from their first education stage. This definitely establishes
strong social class and contextual conditions for those children who belong to
vulnerable households, but there are possibilities of overcoming such barriers,
mostly through personal talent. While children in households in the wealthiest
quintile smoothly experience their everyday life, the other children who face all
kinds of educational and social barriers must use all their talents to escape the
traps of the unequal structure of society and education system.
The following stages in the levels of education are primary and secondary (Five
grades in elementary school, compulsory). Although these have shown some
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improvement in coverage in Colombia, there are still significant gaps compared
to other countries in the region (see Figure 3).
Figure 3
Net Coverage in Primary and Secondary education, Colombia vs. some Countries in Latin
America
[Graph description from left to right and from bottom to top: Coverage (%) / A. Primary:
Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador / B. Secondary: Colombia,
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador]
Note: Net coverage for each level refers to the proportion of children of the age to attend that
level of education and who are enrolled (―overage‖ students excluded). (García et. al., 2021)
As budget allocation is based on the capitation criterion, which considers the
number of students enrolled in school, there has been a substantial effort to
expand coverage in primary and secondary education. Gross coverage at these
levels of education in Colombia reached 97.5% in 2019, being higher than the
Latin American average of 95.4%. However, the national picture is not favorable
when comparing it with net coverage. The global net coverage for primary and
secondary education reached 77.5% in 2019, being lower than in Latin America,
which was 83.4%. This difference in gross and net coverage results can be
explained by the high incidence of overage, caused by high repetition rates,
mainly in the public system.
A separate comparison of primary and secondary net coverage (see Figure 3)
shows lower levels of coverage in Colombia than in other countries. This is
attributable to multiple social and contextual phenomena, where performance
gaps associated with early childhood education play an important role. ―While
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vulnerable households manage to complete a maximum of one year of early
childhood education (kindergarten), families in a better socioeconomic condition
can ensure this level of education from between 3 and 4 years (nursery school)‖
(Saaveda and Forero, 2019). This creates a ―snowball‖ effect in performance
and permanence in the education system once progress is made, although this
effect is more marked and evident in the public system.
While there has been progress in coverage, no improvements in the quality of
education or student performance have occurred. According to the PISA (2019)
test results, which measures reading, mathematics and science skills in 15-
year-olds, there are significant gaps with the OECD [0] average (see Figures 4
and 5). As expressed by Fergusson and Flórez (2021), these gaps in results
mostly appear by region, fuelling segregation dynamics in education by class
and region. Therefore, contextual traps intensify, reinforcing the inequalities
reproduced by the national education system.
Figure 4
PISA Test Results, Colombia vs. OECD
[Graph description from left to right and from bottom to top: PISA score / Colombia / OECD
average / Reading, Mathematics, Science]. Performance in reading, mathematics and science
areas on a scale from 0 to 100. (García et. al., 2021)
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Figure 5
PISA Test Results, Colombia vs. OECD, Mathematics
[Image description: Mathematics test / Average score / OECD average / The lowest, Colombia /
The highest, Japan). Performance in reading, mathematics and science areas on a scale from 0
to 100. (OCDE, 2019)
To further explore the relationship between educational performance, belonging
to the public or private system, and level of wealth, the Saber 11 test results are
analyzed. This test evaluates secondary education. Figure 6 clearly shows
higher test scores when household income increases.
Figure 6
Average Performance in Saber 11 Test by Household Income and Type of School
[Graph description from left to right and from bottom to top: Percentage of students / Saber 11
average score / Percentage of students in X income level / Public schools score / Private
schools score / Below 1; 1 and 2; 2 and 3; 3 and 5; 5 or over]. The left vertical axis measures
the proportion of students in each income range. The right vertical axis measures public and
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private schools’ performance on the Saber 11 test. (García et. al., 2021; Saavedra and Forero,
2019)
Furthermore, no significant differences are observed in public and private
schools for students belonging to households with 5 minimum wages income or
below. This suggests that the private system also has major gaps in the quality
of education and performance, thus creating a perverse phenomenon. This is a
situation in which middle and low-income households send their children to
private schools due to status criteria, but do not find any education differential.
This is where the mercantile nature of education in Colombia becomes evident.
There is only one gap in performance for the high-income level (5 or over),
which is represented by 5% of young people belonging to households with
incomes over 5 minimum wages.
Figure 7
Percentage of Educational Absenteeism and Dropout by Wealth Level
[Graph description from left to right and from bottom to top: Absenteeism (%) / Dropout (%) /
High School / Middle School / Elementary School / Wealth Quintiles]. Wealth quintiles (1
corresponds to the poorest 20%, and so on, up to quintile 5, which includes the richest 20%) are
calculated from an index that combines household assets, particularly housing characteristics
and physical asset ownership. The absenteeism rate calculated for 2013 shows the percentage
of household children in each age range who do not attend school; in high school (students
between 16 and 18 years old), middle school (students between 12 and 15 years old), and
elementary school (between 6 and 11 years old). For the same age groups, the dropout rate
represents the proportion of people who attended school in 2013, but stopped going in 2016.
(García et. al., 2021; Saavedra and Forero, 2019)
Another relevant figure showing gaps related to permanence in the education
system is the percentage of people in an age range to study, who report not
going to school. The absenteeism rate is higher when belonging to a lower
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wealth quintile, and especially at the high school level. While 40% of people
between 15 and 18 years of age in wealth quintile 1 do not attend any
educational institution, the percentage of absenteeism in this same age range
but in the highest quintile (5) reaches 28%. In middle and elementary school,
the gaps by wealth level are not so wide.
In addition to the already worrisome level of absenteeism in high school, there
is a high dropout rate (Students dropping out of the school system due to a set
of factors arising from both within the education system and social, family,
individual and environmental contexts.). 68% of high schoolers from the lowest
quintile (0), who had attended school in 2013, were no longer studying in 2016
[0]. Although dropout and absenteeism have the same gaps related to
belonging to a wealth level, the dropout from middle and high school constitutes
a bigger challenge for the education system. This is because it is a source of
escaping education, even when aware of the implications, in a country as
unequal as Colombia.
Most of the data presented show the importance of socioeconomic context in
school permanence and performance in Colombia. It is an environment that
depends significantly on the household level of wealth/income, and therefore
reinforces the idea of segregation in the Colombian education system.
Tertiary (Post-secondary) education: Higher education
The Colombian education system creates large gaps in education and school
performance at all levels of education, which come from whether the student
belongs to the public or private system and whether they belong to a household
with a lower or higher wealth and income level. Moreover, 19% of elementary
and middle school students and 23% of high school are in the private sector.
However, this percentage changes according to the geographic location
(regions). For example, in rural areas or small towns, the learning process
occurs mainly in public schools, while in large cities, there is a greater offer of
private education programs. As for higher education, the percentage of students
in the private system reaches 47%, being higher than the OECD average for
this level of education, which reaches 30% (OCDE, 2019).
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Figure 8
Enrollment in Higher Education by Wealth Quartile
[Graph description: Coverage (%) / Wealth Quartile]. Proportion of people of age to attend
higher education enrolled in higher education institutions. (Amaya, 2013; Bernal, 2012)
The higher education structure in Colombia has inherited inequality. From the
primary education system since access to this level of education varies
depending on the wealth quartile, as shown in Figure 8.
Similarly, inequality can be observed in the transition and adaptation from high
school to university, where also some difficulties in social integration appear.
This increases the risk of dropping out and contributes to intellectual immaturity
and a lack of previous knowledge, failing to meet the academic demands in the
first University semesters.
This transition period, where a student moves from high school to higher
education, is full of complexities, including: differences in how teaching and
evaluation systems work, the most variable communication processes with
professors, and the separation from the usual group of friends. At this stage,
where students need to look for new relationships with peers, they may feel less
supported and thus be at a higher risk of dropping out. (Feixás et. al., 2015;
Figuera and Torrado, 2013)
In this regard, during the National Policy for Higher Education presentation by
the Ministry of National Education, dropout was referred to as a ―highly
important issue for the new policy.‖ This is due to the high figures it has
represented for the nation and families; for example, the dropout reported in
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Colombia in 2009 cost the country about 221 billion pesos, constituing 12% of
the nation’s total contributions. For families, the expenditure was 337 billion
pesos, totaling approximately 550 billion pesos. (MENC, 2017; Rueda et. al.,
2020)
Although, according to DANE (Gutiérrez, Díaz and López, 2021), coverage for
higher education in Colombia has increased, there is a difference of almost 8%
between the lowest quartile (36%) and the highest quartile (44%). Such a gap is
attributable to different factors ranging from: the lack of economic resources to
access to the private system; the differences in performance that limit access to
public higher education since access is determined by the results of the Saber
11 test (The Prueba Saber 11 is a test that evaluates the Secondary Education
level in Colombia and is aligned with Primary Education evaluations. Its purpose
is to provide information to the educational community on the development of
students’ basic competencies, which are expected to be acquired during their
school life), and the opportunity costs of studying given the need to work;
among others.
Figure 9 illustrates the context given above. 43% of students who take the
Saber 11 test belong to the lower social class (level 1), and only 1% to the
upper class (level 6). However, only 12% of lower class (level 1) students are
able to access higher education, while access for upper class (level 6) students
reaches 53%. As one belongs to a higher social class, the probability of access
to higher education is greater. This shows significant gaps of a segregationist
nature inherited from the education system.
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Figure 9
Students’ Social Class in the Saber 11 Test and Access to Tertiary Education
[Graph description from left to right, top to bottom: Percentage of students taking the Saber 11
test / Access rate (%) / Household social class/ % of students taking the Saber 11 test / % of
access to higher education]. The left axis represents the distribution of students by a
socioeconomic class who take the Saber 11 test. The right axis indicates the access rate to
higher education by socioeconomic class. The access rate corresponds to the percentage of
students who take the Saber 11 test and are enrolled in a higher education institution in the
semester following the one in which they took the test. (Amaya, 2013; Burbano, 2021)
The gap in the dropout rate by socioeconomic class is another element that
boosts the reproduction of inequalities in the Colombian education system,
including higher education (see Figure 10). Between 2010 and 2019, the
average dropout rate of students from lower class (level 1), upper lower class
(level 2), and middle class (level 3) was 63%, and that of students from upper
middle class (level 4), lower upper class (level 5), and upper class (level 6) was
8% with differentiated dynamics over time. While for the first three social class
levels dropout increased, for the other three (levels 4, 5, and 6) decreased. The
education system does not guarantee full access to higher education, nor does
it provide permanence mechanisms for lower class students, thus reinforcing
the traps related to expectations of the education system.
Figure 10
University Dropout Rate by Socioeconomic Class, 2010 - 2019
[Graph description from left and from top to bottom: Percentage / Year / Social class levels 1, 2,
and 3 / Social class levels 4, 5, and 6]. (Gutiérrez, Díaz and López, 2021)
The lack of consolidation of trade schools and apprenticeship programs
education is also a factor showing the social class variable of the Colombian
education system. For example, of the total number of lower class (level 1)
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students who manage to access higher education, 79% access university
education, 13% access an apprenticeship program and 8% access trade
school. In the case of upper class (level 6) students, 97% access university
education, 2% access an apprenticeship program and only 1% access trade
school. This produces income gaps as the average salaries for graduates from
trade schools and apprenticeship programs in Colombia are significantly lower
than those earned from a university degree.
Figure 11
Students’ Social class by Type of Tertiary Education
[Graph description from left and from top to bottom: Percentage of students in a social class /
Household social class / University / Apprenticeship program / Trade School]. Percentage of
new students at each tertiary education modality in the first semester of the year, as a
proportion of the total number of new students in a social class. (Amaya, 2013; Gutiérrez, Díaz
and López, 2021)
As can be observed, the Colombian education system does not provide any
leveling in its levels of education at any point; on the contrary, as the learning
process moves forward, segregation becomes more pronounced, increasingly
widening the gaps related to belonging to a wealth level and to the public or
private system.
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Reproduction of inequalities through the education system
Educational gaps resulting from social differences produce a status quo for
social mobility, a problem for historically unequal societies such as Colombia. In
modernity, the education system is the main mechanism for social mobility;
however, when it reinforces basic social inequalities, it destroys the population's
expectations of improvement. This situation increases the establishment of
criminal structures and illegal or underproductive economic practices, making it
impossible for the population to generate competitive dynamics mainly
associated with value creation from knowledge.
When analyzing the PISA test results again, but this time filtering results by
public and private schools, performance gaps are clearly seen. This is a
problem as language and mathematics competencies are the constituents of
people’s critical and logical thinking and therefore are responsible for enhancing
or limiting their future performance at work or a higher education institution.
Figure 12
PISA Test Results, Public and Private Schools Average 2006 - 2018
[Graph description from left to right, top to bottom: Score / Score / Language / Mathematics /
Public schools / Private schools]. (Gutiérrez, Díaz and López, 2021)
These gaps are not just the result of the pedagogical space and the differences
in infrastructure and equipment in the public and private systems; rather, they
respond to a series of relative student deprivations in their relational contexts.
When observing Figure 13, overall, access to electricity in public and private
institutions, both urban and rural, does not seem to be a problem. However,
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there is still 17% of rural public institutions with no access to electricity. As for
access to internet, there are larger gaps, especially in the rural public system.
While the average internet access in the different categories is 89%, in rural
public institutions, this access is only 18%.
Although the current national government has developed the Centros Poblados
strategy, where rural public institutions were targeted to provide them with
connectivity and improve their technological equipment, there have been
corruption scandals during the implementation of this program, which have
slowed down its execution. This confirms a lack of political will to bridge social
gaps through the education system.
Figure 13
Electricity and Internet Availability in Educational Institutions
[Graph description: Electricity / Internet / Yes / No / Urban public schools / Rural public schools /
Urban private schools / Rural private schools]. (Burbano, 2021)
Inquiring about the students' perception of connectivity and technological device
availability, both in their educational institution and at home, a self-
representation gap is observed (see Figure 13). While 17% of students in public
institutions (15% from rural public schools and 19% from urban public) consider
having a considerable number of technological devices providing connectivity,
in private institutions this reaches 72%.
When asked about Internet speed, 88% of students in public institutions (91%
from rural public schools and 85% from urban public) consider that it is efficient.
On the contrary, in private institutions, only 32% of students are satisfied with
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the browsing speed. Surprisingly, this shows that the lack of good connectivity
is valued as efficient when there are not sufficient and appropriate devices nor
technological devices integrated into pedagogical and didactic practices in the
public education system (urban and rural) as these are not permanently used.
In contrast, in private institutions where technological devices are commonly
used during lessons, their constant updating produces connectivity problems,
resulting in low student scores. The infrastructure limitations in the education
system reduce the capacity of integrated pedagogical and didactic practices,
thus affecting the current learning process significantly.
Figure 14
Students' Perception of Connectivity Conditions and Technological Devices Availability
[Graph description: Questions: is there a sufficient number of digital devices connected to the
Internet? / Do you have an internet connection at home? / Is there suitable broadband or
browsing speed at school? / Do you have a computer to do your homework? Bars information:
Rural public school / Urban public school / Private school / Information at the bottom: Yes / No].
(Burbano, 2021; Gutiérrrez, Díaz and López, 2021)
When analyzing the home level, gaps are evident. While 56% of students in
public institutions (45% in rural public schools and 67% in urban public) have an
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internet connection at home, this figure reaches 95% in students in private
institutions. Gaps are similar when asked about computer availability at home.
All these elements reinforce the traps of the Colombian education system since
it inherits social inequalities, with no mechanisms and possibilities of escape
such exclusion, reproducing the persistent inequality in the country through the
quality of education, performance, and social class.
Conclusions
Education in Colombia reproduces a social class phenomenon, creating a kind
of social segregation. This results in a lack of intergenerational social mobility
spread by the education system. Hence educational traps, which prevent the
bridging of socioeconomic gaps and the harmonization of cultural differences.
Although there has been progress in the constitutional, regulatory, and
jurisprudential development of the right to education, there are still lags for its
actual fulfillment. After thirty years of the 1991 Constitution, there are still some
unresolved tasks, such as the gap in access to education, including
permanence, coverage and, therefore, quality. Education cannot continue to be
a privilege for some as it is a right and a public service with social purposes. It is
the most powerful tool for the transformation and evolution of society towards
inclusive construction with social and environmental justice.
It is important to prioritize the reformulation of the current national education
policy regulations to guarantee the students' and educational institutions'
continuation in the first, secondary and post-secondary education system. This
would lead to society’s evolution and determine education’s true nature, not as
a mercantilist entity, but as a scenario for transformation and social innovation.
Thus, medium and long-term changes need actions with new practices and
purposes to achieve the goals set. In this way, it would be possible to rebuild an
institutional and social culture where education becomes a relevant force of
change for Colombia, especially in the times we live in.
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Education in Colombia must allow students to perceive, feel and understand the
appreciation and valuation of their culture through their academic environment.
In that sense, policies and curricula must be socially and environmentally
relevant. Additionally, through cooperation, solidarity and participation, the
society’s progress, and especially that of all the education community members,
must be valued. Such actions would promote the common good and students
would be placed in scenarios of inclusion, in the phenomenology of praxis that
imply a major transformation of their knowledge acquisition processes and of
their own knowledge coming from the ethnic and educational axis.
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