The Colombian government has approved a COP1trn ($400m) investment to distribute computers and tablets to public schools in its latest effort to improve the quality of education across the country, especially in rural areas.
The investment is part of an official programme known as “Computadores para educar” first launched in 2001. In an official statement released at the end of March, the government said it would invest COP650bn ($260m) on tablet computers and COP353bn ($141m) on laptops in the latest phase of the programme, with devices expected to be distributed during the second half of the year.
?This is the largest technology donation ever made to official Colombian educational institutions, and it is part of a major effort to increase the quality of education and the performance of our students,? said Diego Molano, minister for information technology and communications, noting that the government had already distributed 2m computers to public schools during 2010-14.
According to data from the ministry, the student-to-computer ratio is improving: last year there were 11 students for every computer, compared with 20 in 2010. However, more needs to be done before computers become commonplace in Colombian schools.
Algebra for farmers
In the short-term, the programme has encouraged some teachers to develop creative learning initiatives. Jos? No? S?nchez, a teacher based in a village in the department of Quind?o, has won national recognition for his efforts to teach maths in a practical way. Using 10 computers, Sanchez has bypassed the official algebra textbook and set up software to tackle practical farming problems.
?I give them problems linked to their family farming plots … With mathematics and IT we know they can develop into innovative farmers, boost productivity and earn a livelihood,? he said.
Yet the bigger challenge in Colombia is to reduce the education gap, particularly among the rural poor. As the government edges forward in its peace talks with left-wing guerrilla movements, it is clear that a post-conflict Colombia will require major reforms, including investments to expand education at all levels.
The country is well placed to achieve this goal. Thanks to an ageing population, the total number of primary and secondary students edged down from 11.2m in 1999 to 10.2m in 2012, somewhat easing the pressure on resources. Colombia?s educational spending is around 7% to 8% of GDP, surpassing Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and most European countries, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In real terms, sector resources increased 47% from 2002 to 2012 according to the Ministry of National Education.
School performance tables
Despite the investments, the quality of education remains stubbornly low. Colombia has regularly underperformed in the OECD?s international student evaluation surveys, known as the PISA tests. In the PISA 2014 results, Colombian students were ranked 61st out of 65 countries in reading and mathematics.
The government, with an eye on increasing economic competitiveness, is determined to tackle this problem as it aims to make Colombia the best-educated country in Latin America by 2025.
One response is through new measurement tools and the creation of an annual index of education quality, known as the Synthetic Index of Educational Quality (?ndice Sint?tico de la Calidad Educativa, ISCE), which was officially launched on March 25. ISCE, based on a system used in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, is a composite score for schools on a scale of 1-10 made up of four elements. The first two measure student progress and achievement levels, using Colombia?s existing annual student tests, while the third and fourth components measure efficiency and the school environment.
?We will be able to say, ‘you have scored 5 and you need to improve to 6.’ If the school?s staff meets this objective, everyone from the janitor to the head teacher will receive an additional monthly salary,? the education minister, Gina Parody, told local media in March. In order to meet its long-term goals, Colombia is aiming to improve the scores of all its schools to above 7.
While the attempt to improve the quality of education using the ISCE tables as an incentive has been received with interest, some question how it will work in practice.
Other issues include the difficulties in singling out the effect of the ISCE scheme or the increased IT investment on the quality of education. In addition to these measures, the government is also implementing a reform of the school day, which will see a move from a combination of early and late school shifts towards a single, longer shift, which will increase the number of hours each student spends in class.
