Educational Equity

Inequalities in access to quality education and opportunities to develop skills result in a massive waste of potential talent and contribute to the region’s very high degree of income inequality.

Education and skills training in particular early education is the key to promoting greater social mobility in the region. Individuals with fewer skills are often confined to operate in low-productivity, precarious jobs, frequently in the informal economy.  The average school performance of 15- year-olds in Latin American countries is well below the OECD average, with a gap that is equivalent to almost two years of education. More than half of 15-year-old Latin American students do not acquire the basic level of competencies to perform well in the labour market, and less than 2% of them are “top performers” in mathematics, compared to the average of 13% in OECD countries.

Student outcomes are more dependent on socio-economic background. In Brazil and Costa Rica, for example, children who belong to the bottom income quintile have almost 50% less likelihood to access secondary education than those from the uppermost quintile. Gender and spatial inequalities in the provision of and access to education also pose major challenges. Latin American countries need to build stronger and more suitable skills through vocational training and lifelong learning, especially for youth in lower-income households. Striking disparities arise well before they enter school, and these disparities are predictive of subsequent academic performance and life achievement. Investing in quality Early Childhood Development yields high rates of return. Data from the United States indicate that returns can be as high as $17 for every $1 invested.