Quality public education was one of Bernardo Arévalo’s campaign promises when he was a presidential candidate. But in the first six months of his government, this promise seems to be weak, according to the analysis of former Education Ministers María del Carmen Aceña and Bienvenido Argueta.
Both former officials analyzed the country’s path in terms of education during the current administration of President Arévalo.
The education portfolio is headed by Minister Anabella Giracca. But for former officials there are deficiencies when it comes to educational quality and the execution of its programs.
When talking regarding education, the Arévalo administration highlights the secret negotiations they are holding with Joviel Acevedo for a new collective education agreement. Negotiations that are discussed and advanced behind closed doors due to confidentiality clauses that have not been revoked.
Educational quality
The Ministry of Education is responsible for providing free education to children and young people, but in addition to complications regarding the level of coverage, there are doubts regarding the level of education currently provided.
This is according to the analysis of María del Carmen Aceña, who was Minister of Education from 2004 to 2008. She is currently a member of the National Economic Research Center (CIEN).
“I think that a great challenge is to evaluate academic content because we are in the 21st century, facing artificial intelligence, and things have to change here. Parents have to become allies of teachers, teachers must be guides, we cannot continue with a system from the last century.”
For Aceña, improving the level of public education should be one of the highest priorities of the Ministry of Education. It should seek support from experts, even by relying on social or community groups to carry out monitoring.
“The best thing to do is to monitor and provide support. If there are no experts within the Ministry of Education, it is best to rely on academic or community organizations that can support teachers to improve the quality of education for children.”
Bienvenido Argueta was Minister of Education from 2009 to 2010 and also considered that the quality of education is one of the great pillars that the ministry has on its shoulders.
“Let’s say that in the end we do not find out what the priorities will be for these four years because there are pending issues. We have the Guatemalan curriculum, at least at the primary level, from regarding 20 years ago, it is the oldest in Central America,” said Argueta.
Former Minister Argueta believes that quality in public education is a primary focus. But it is also important to seek to reintegrate children and youth who have left the education system.
“But in terms of priorities, we also don’t know what will be done with the majority of young people who do not have access to the education system. Let’s say that young people between 15 and 19 years old, for the most part, have only completed primary school and in some cases, basic education.”
The Ministry of Education says it has clear strategies to improve the quality of education in the country, according to Francisco Cabrera, technical vice-minister of the ministry.
“Analysts should also be aware that measures to improve the quality of education are the ones that take the longest time to design, prepare and implement, and that the effects can be observed in the medium and long term,” Cabrera explained.
The official added that there is currently a strategy to combat the effects caused by the pandemic, due to the prolonged closure of educational centers that resulted in reading and writing deficiencies.
“If a child does not adequately develop the ability to read and understand, his or her future is affected. The strategy allows students to reach the basic levels: understanding what they read and expressing themselves in writing, which makes a significant difference in their chances of success within the educational system,” he explained.
The official explained that they are preparing actions that would gradually improve the quality of education. Among these, he explained, is the permanent program to improve reading for all levels, the delivery of textbooks for all grades, the preparation of a new teacher training course that includes primary school teachers, intercultural bilingual education, physical education, artistic education, special education, extracurricular education and alternative education. “As is widely known in the world of education, qualitative leaps do not happen as a result of a single measure, but rather from the combination of multiple factors,” reiterated the official.
Health insurance
The former ministers consider that the school health insurance was not useful for the Ministry, since the primary function of the Ministry of Education is teaching, and since it is a program that is far removed from technical bases, its measurement was not feasible.
But Vice Minister Cabrera said that following analyzing the program, they determined that it was not useful, transferring the issue of insurance, focused on health, to the Ministry of Health.
“After an analysis, it was determined that school insurance was not beneficial for the country, and an intervention was requested with an audit from the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts and the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation.”
The union leader, Joviel Acevedo, did not agree with this decision. He unsuccessfully filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court (CC). The unconstitutionality remains pending.
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Collective agreement in secret
Union leader Joviel Acevedo has been a constant in every government administration. But now, Bernardo Arévalo’s administration is negotiating the reforms to the collective education agreement in complete secrecy.
The confidentiality clauses were defined before the current administration took office. But the secrecy of the agreements has remained outside the public eye.
“A collective agreement is currently being negotiated, unfortunately secret, but it is very important that the resources that are being committed are allocated to children’s education. Not that they are allocated to extraordinary bonuses, giving privileges to union members without any incentive to improve education,” Aceña emphasized.
Argueta understands that the situation in which the Mineduc took over with the previous agreements with Acevedo generates difficult scenarios for the education portfolio.
“I think that the Mineduc found itself in a complex situation. Firstly, because of the relations between the organized teachers and the political decisions that were made with the Mineduc,” said Argueta.
Mineduc authorities have stated that they seek transparency in the negotiations. But confidentiality clauses agreed upon by another government administration prevent them from doing so.
Former Minister Argueta considered that the Education Administration and Acevedo’s union group are currently in a situation that might define the future work mechanics.
“I think the portfolio is trying to regain decision-making spaces that are more than relevant. In addition, this creates conditions for new negotiations in fairly complex situations.”
Action in the CC
President Arévalo sent a request to the Constitutional Court seeking constitutional support to make the negotiation public.
But constitutional experts warn that the issue is unlikely to prosper, since it is apparently not a constitutional matter.
Experts believe that the decision to make these negotiations public or not falls exclusively on the executive branch.
Renovations
In the first year, the Ministry of Education expects to refurbish around 10,000 educational centers. In the first six months of government, the actions have allowed for repairs in six thousand establishments.
“The renovations are carried out based on criteria for the recovery of public sector educational infrastructure, based on the report of “Substantial deficiencies and needs reported by public sector educational centers (2024)”. In this sense, preventive and corrective maintenance is prioritized to repair deterioration and damage caused by rain and other events, for example, earthquakes. Repair of kitchens and sanitary services is also prioritized, among other needs,” said Vice Minister Cabrera.
The former heads of education consider that the school repairs are positive, but they emphasize that there are other issues that should be a priority.
“Perhaps one recommendation is to conduct a census of school infrastructure because the last one was conducted many years ago. We do not know for sure how the schools are,” said Aceña.
He even sees in a positive light how the role of parents is key in these repairs.
“We have seen that parent organizations have recovered. In fact, the renovations were carried out through the parents, which is positive because for several years now, the renovation, refurbishment and textbooks have been decentralized.”
Argueta also sees the school repairs as timely. He said that these achievements might be fleeting, given the climatic conditions in the country.
“I would say that the renovation of the schools is already planned. I think that this helps a lot, but the repair of the schools is a constant, because in six months the schools have to be repaired once more.”
The deputy minister added that each educational center is evaluated to determine which ones require repairs.
“The areas to be intervened are proposed by the Parents’ Organizations, which are validated by the infrastructure delegates of the Departmental Education Directorates,” decisions that are constantly monitored, he said.
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