2 teachers hired every 3 new students

The political debate in the electoral campaign is filled with superficial speeches, overcharged with self-praise and criticism towards oppossing candidates. In contrast, ignorance and complacency about important issues prevails.  Particularly relevant is the deterioration of the public educational system. Citizens support a record tax burden in order to sustain the high increase in public investment in education. But this effort is wasted due to low educational quality management.

The elections are approaching and they will define the turnover in Congress and anticipate the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections. The candidates’ campaigns are filled with self-admiration and criticism towards opposing candidates, even when they belong to the same political party. As a counterfact, there are no rigorous diagnoses and proposals on important topics, such as education.

Public investment in education has grown significantly in recent years. It went from 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004, when the great boom of the last decade started, to a current level of 6%. This makes room for complacency among many political leaders. The simplistic idea that a mere increase in resources spontaneously and automatically improves educational indicators still persists.

In this context, it is relevant to analyze the official information on student enrollment and teaching positions that was recently updated by the Ministry of Education. Taking into account only state-run schools between 2004 and 2011 the data shows that:

· Enrollment levels in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools across the country increased only by 98.000 students, i.e. it increased only 1.4% in seven years.

· The number of teaching positions, however, grew by 16.7% due to the creation of 67.000 new positions in seven years.

· This means that in state-run schools, 2 teachers were appointed every 3 new students.

These official data clearly supports the evidence on the low efficiency with which the high level of investment in public education is being managed. Obviously there are exceptions, but the most prevalent trend observed is the use of the additional resources to hire new teachers and raise salaries, regardless of skill, effort and commitment of each teacher with her students’ learning. Thus, currently state-run schools in their three basic levels have 7,2 million students and 465 thousands teaching positions, or, in plain words, there are 15 students per teacher.

At the same time, international assessment tests for educational performance place Argentina on the wane. Families perceive the public school deterioration, so they chose to send their children to private schools. Evidence shows that the private schools accounts for 80% of the growth observed in enrollment in the last 7 years. The massive migration from public to private schools contrasts with the fact that among the vast majority of parents prevails a general feeling of high feeling and important recognition to public schools in which they themselves were educated. The sacrifice that involves paying for private schools reflects the level of resignation parent’s support by the deterioration of public schools under permanent union disputes and negligent management.

Likewise, the stagnation in state-run schools’ enrollment suggests that the Universal Child Allowance is not very efficient as a mechanism to encourage retention in the educational system. While other countries’ evidence shows that conditional cash transfer programs impact positively in the educational level in poor households, the Argentine Universal Child Allowances’ effect is diluted due to the rustic design of the mechanism of control applied in the program (i.e.: the Health and Educational paper-bound).

Negligent management and complacency with mediocrity seems to be the rule in social policy. Citizens have never paid so many taxes as today. But the increase in taxes has not been backed with better services because much of public resources have been misused. In this context, it is dispiriting that the electoral debate continues without the emergence of a clear awareness about the fact that in order to achieve better education is not enough to increase educational investment, but it is essential to improve management quality. Nevertheless this high requirement demands accountability, professionalism and political courage to address very sensitive social issues.