Challenges in Education in Cartagena: Addressing Infrastructure and Quality Issues

In Cartagena, children and adolescents resumed their training process with the start of classes, good news from the base that education has positive effects on the quality of life and social mobility; However, this must be harmonious from early childhood to higher education.

Cartagena Como Vamos (CCV) presented a new weekly analysis, in which it addresses the satisfaction and assessment of different aspects of the education offered in the city, based on the results of the Citizen Perception Survey (EPC) 2023, carried out by this program . This instrument showed that in Heroica in 1 out of every 2 homes there is at least one minor who should be linked to the educational system. Of these, 80% attend an official institution, that is, it depends on the District.

When asking households with children enrolled in preschool and transition levels about satisfaction with multiple aspects of education, it turns out that the biggest challenge identified is nutritional support; only 6 out of 10 are satisfied, which is related to the impact of student retention strategies such as the School Feeding Program (PAE); in the dropout rate, which is highest in preschool, with more than 5% of students withdrawing from the system before the end of the year.

This same exercise, but applied in homes with primary, secondary and middle school students, showed differentiated results between private and official education. Although the majority of students in the District attend a public institution, this is where low satisfaction is recorded in all aspects, compared to private institutions. Read also: The challenges that Cartagena has for this school year

The most critical thing from the opinions of the people of Cartagena are the physical conditions of the schools, where only 65% ​​feel satisfied officially, while privately it is closer to 80%.

Precisely, with the return to classes in 2024, the city’s conversation about the great challenge of educational infrastructure in Cartagena is raised again, where 80% of the headquarters of official educational institutions present infrastructure problems that require attention to guarantee optimal conditions in the provision of the service.

Another challenge that the EPC 2023 echoed is the availability of places and the registration process, where private satisfaction is 75%, while official satisfaction is only 68%, which suggests that the shortcomings In infrastructure, they not only cover the state of the current headquarters, but also their sufficiency, since the public educational policy approved in Cartagena estimates a deficit of 1,200 school classrooms in the city.

The satisfaction of the people of Cartagena with teachers in the official sector is 77% and in the private sector it rises to 83%. The above shows that in both sectors the best evaluated aspect is that of teachers, being better perceived in the private sector. You may be interested: More than 179 thousand students in Cartagena returned to classes

The official educational institutions of the Cartagena district show a lag in educational quality, placing the city as the third of the 23 main capitals in the country, with the most critical results.

Faced with these challenges, Eliana Salas Barón, director of Cartagena Como Vamos, expressed that “dignifying education is a pending task in the capital of Bolívar and it is perhaps for this reason that, on the route to the formulation of the new District Development Plan, “The participation tables with the education sector began.”

According to CCV, it is essential that the District Administration identifies the opportunities represented by the implementation of public educational policy and the articulated work between the State, private companies and academia, to advance together in overcoming structural problems and the gaps that perpetuate inequalities and prevent the full development of the city.

2024-02-16 12:26:17
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