Poor students repeat five more times
Students with fewer resources repeat 5.5 times more than those with a better situation economic; Classroom dropouts are also higher among children living in vulnerable households: up to 7.5 times higher.
These are some of the conclusions of the report prepared by the High Commissioner against Child Poverty "Child poverty and educational inequality in Spain, which analyzes inequality in various educational areas, as well as the Government's measures to combat it, specified in the 2021 Budgets and the Lomloe or "Celaá law."
"The education is the main tool to get out of poverty acting as a key part of the 'social elevator', an elevator that, however, does not work quite well in our country ", warns the High Commissioner, who emphasizes that one of its essential functions is to raise the educational level of the population independently of the socioeconomic origin of each person.
Poverty is transmitted
In Spain, almost half of the people who have grown up in homes with a basic level of education do not exceed that same educational level, generating an intergenerational transmission of educational disadvantage.
"A basic level of studies at home also carries a high probability that children are in a situation of child poverty," the study warns.
It highlights the effects of inequality in various areas of education: the first cycle of early childhood education (0 to 3 years), educational drop-out, repetition, digitization, household educational spending and segregation.
"There is a clear impact of the socioeconomic situation of students on their academic results; male and female students who come from households with fewer resources repeat 5.5 times more than those with more resources", diagnoses this analysis.
In the case of early school leaving, the data is even worse: schoolchildren from the lowest socioeconomic origin suffer from it 7.5 times more than the most advantaged.
Opportunity blocking
Educational inequality is observed from the first cycle of early childhood education, to which the minors with fewer resources attend half that stage than those with more.
Throughout the development of minors it extends to areas such as digitization, where it warns "of significant gaps in internet access, equipment and use of these technologies."
"That situation is aggravated by school segregation for socioeconomic reasons that reproduces inequalities and violates equal opportunities, "he says.
For the Executive body for the fight against child poverty, the "Celaá law" represents an important step in the fight against educational inequality in our country, as well as the expected increase of 139% in the Budget project of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training for 2021.
About the proposed accounts for 2021, highlights the items: 201 million euros destined to create 21,794 new public places in early childhood education, 654 million euros for the professional training of the educational system, 80 of the reinforcement of PROA (educational support), 150 of Plan Educa en Digital, 827 to create digital classrooms and the rise of 514 million in scholarships and study aid.
De la Lomloe, assesses measures aimed at increasing the equity of the educational system, such as the promotion of individualized attention in Primary, the realization of early diagnoses and support to avoid school repetition, particularly in socially disadvantaged environments.
Remember that "the law imposes on administrations the obligation to ensure equity among students and pays special attention to the extracurricular educational offer and educational leisure, as well as measures to reduce school segregation by socioeconomic level of the students ".
