"Education by itself does not change the world, but it is impossible to do without it." These words, written by educator Paulo Freire, show how education is central to improving social conditions on a large scale. This premise, however, acquires enormous challenges today when assessing the inequality of education in different parts of the world. As a result of this process, more students are out of school with critical and social training impaired.
By: Fernando Cafe
By 2021, 117 million students, according to UNESCO, were out of school. This data represents the impact of COVID-19, but it is a result of the systemic lack of investment in the area. The United States, for example, invests $14,400 per student and has one of the best education systems in the world. However, low-income countries have severe difficulties in creating bases that can support the education of children and young people. In this sense, this fact constitutes an enormous disparity in countries' progress because education is one of the elements of the population's scientific, technological, and social development.
In addition, school dropout is also demonstrated as a fact that increases inequalities between regions of the globe. For example, Brazil is a reflection of this scenario. According to UNICEF, approximately 1.1 million children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years old were out of school. Lack of infrastructure, distance from teaching centers, inefficient methodologies, and need for labor are factors that expand the lack of curricular training for citizens, in which abandoning the choice is not a choice but an imposition.
To conclude, it should be noted that each country has its educational specificity. However, factors such as quality education, investment, and permanence of the student are essential and universal premises for quality education. Therefore, while there is negligence in adopting this area as one of the priorities, some countries will remain stagnant in the social formation of their population due to the absence of a solid education and a space open to educational innovation. After all, democratizing teaching ensures that the world is moving towards a better reality.
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