A report presented by the National Institute of Educational Evaluation (INEED) establishes that in 2030 the number of primary school students will be 70,000 fewer children than in 2020, which would mean 25% fewer school-age minors.
This Wednesday the Ineed presented the “State of Education Report 2021-2022” in it Legislative Palace. There, the result that caught the most attention was that children of school age, that is, from 6 to 11 years old, will have a considerable decrease.
In section “Enrollment of the educational system” It estimates that school-age boys and girls will go from 285,317 between 2021 and 2022 to 214,405 in 2030, which gives a total of 70,912 fewer students. In that sense, Ineed warned that “a 25% reduction in the school-age population is projected in the coming years.”
“We have challenges that continue to have to do with the number of students in the Obligatory education (in early childhood and high school)”, alarmed Pablo Caggiani, teacher and member of Ineed. Caggiani assured that progress was seen in the educational system although he admitted that they do not see all that is expected.
The influence of migration
From the institution they clarified that the data was taken from the National Administration of Public Education (Anep) and it is believed that the immigration balance will be zero. This means that there will be a similar number of children entering as those leaving Uruguay.
In that sense, they estimated that “the projected decrease could be smaller if the migratory balance in the coming years will be positive.” Although they warned that “the projected decrease is so important that it does not seem reasonable to expect” that this figure “will be significantly reduced by the arrival of school-age migrants.”
A decrease that is increasing and coincides with the national census
According to the report, there is evidence of decline of students primary school since the beginning of the last decade. This premise is based on the fact that, in 2012, the number of enrolled students was 319,238, while last year there were 293,403, evidencing a difference of 25,835 fewer in comparison.
These data coincide with the preliminary results of the census carried out this year and which were presented this week. According to this data, Uruguay It has 3,444,263 inhabitants, of which 52% are women and 48% are men. From them, it was concluded that the Uruguayan population grew by 1% compared to the previous census carried out in 2011.
With this, the director of National Institute of Statistics (INE), Diego Aboalassured the country has “a relatively stagnant population“; especially, considering that the increase in inhabitants was thanks to immigration.
In that sense, he confirmed that, although it was expected that only in the year 2047 the population would begin to have a decreasing trend, This phenomenon is already being observed; and that, if it had not been for immigration, the results would have been different. “If we had not had the immigration of these years, we would have been below the previous census. Without immigration, the growth rate would have been negative”, he alarmed.
Source: Ambito
