At the end of 2022, the National Public Education Administration (ANEP) met its annual goal of 50.9 percent of students graduating from high school, while the average in Latin America is 65 percent.

According to the Continuous Household Survey, women graduate slightly more than men; those from the capital city less than those from the interior; and the rich much more than the poor.

For sociologist Hugo de los Campos, ‘the distance is huge between Uruguay and the countries of the region just as the difference between the poorest and the richest; so Uruguay has to come openly and realize that something in the system is wrong, which does not mean that half of the young people are incapable’.

The indicator improved since 2019, when 43.3 percent of students finished high school.

But the expert stressed to the newspaper “El Observador” that in the Covid-19 pandemic, the passing of grades was made more flexible, repetition decreased and fewer young people left high school to go to work.

For the director of Educational Policies of ANEP, Adriana Aristimuño, the backwardness in education is the result of ‘the dragging of a lot of previous problems such as: discouragement, excessive repetition and high extra-age students’.

During the current school year, the country began the implementation of an educational reform promoted by the government and criticized by teachers.

jrr/jav/lam/ool.