Xinhua 2022:11:25.08:13
(XINHUA) – SANTIAGO, November 24 – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has warned that the region has been unable to reverse the pandemic’s impact on poverty and extreme poverty, as it faces a ” silence of crisis” in education that affects the future of the new generations, according to the report Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 presented Thursday in Chile.
ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs said at the launch of the report that the region is currently suffering from “a protracted social crisis” led by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), with a “slow economic growth, weak employment recovery and rising inflation”.
Salazar-Xirinachs stressed at the ECLAC headquarters in the Chilean city of Santiago that the health crisis has worsened the living conditions of the Latin American population and triggered a quarter-century setback for the region, with an in-depth of poverty, extreme poverty and unemployment.
The document projected that despite the slight reduction in poverty and extreme poverty in 2021 compared to 2020, by the end of 2022 poverty will be at 32.1% of the population (201 million people) and extreme poverty at 13 .1% (82 million people).
According to the study, “these figures imply that another 15 million people will be in poverty compared to the pre-pandemic situation and that the number of people in extreme poverty will be 12 million higher than in 2019”.
The agency explained that the incidence of poverty increases among children, adolescents and women, as well as being higher in indigenous or Afro-descendant populations.
For its part, this year’s estimated unemployment reflects a 22-year setback in Latin America, especially affecting women, whose unemployment situation rose from 9.5% in 2019 to 11.6% at the end of 2022.
The report addressed as a central theme the “silent impact” that the pandemic has had on teaching, caused by the prolonged interruption of face-to-face lessons to prevent the spread of the virus, with difficulty continuing remotely due to connectivity barriers, equipment and digital skills.
According to the research, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced the longest “education blackout” internationally, averaging 70 weeks, exacerbating previous inequalities in access and quality of education in the region.
“This results in a long-term, lifelong scarring effect that can negatively impact an entire generation’s educational trajectory, future job opportunities, and development,” said Salazar-Xirinachs.
In this regard, ECLAC has called for investing in education to eliminate gender gaps and reduce exclusion, as well as adopting bold and ambitious policies, with the idea of turning this deep crisis into an opportunity to transform systems Latin American educational institutions, with a view to towards growth and sustainable development.
In this regard, the Body assured that social institutions are a critical factor for the effectiveness of social policies.
In this line, cross-sectoral efforts are needed that link the educational offer with health, work and social protection, which allow the establishment of mechanisms to guarantee a level of well-being and income, in an era of volatility and uncertainty.
In this context, the organization reaffirmed the need to build new social and fiscal pacts that strengthen the central role of education for sustainable development with equality.
He expressed that in this way it will be possible to advance in strengthening democracy and social cohesion, as well as guarantee the financial sustainability of social protection systems in the region, as well as avoiding new tensions and fractures in society.
(Web editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)
