This post is also available in: Português Español

For a long time, poor coverage and low quality education in Latin America have been seen as some of the main causes for the slow economic growth and the unequal income distribution.  Since World War II, many governments decided to hire more teachers and to build more schools; consequently, in the early eighties, most school children had entered primary school and adult illiteracy had been reduced from 34% to 13% (Puryear 1997, 4). Nevertheless, despite these efforts, the quality, efficiency and equity of educational services remained low. Deficiencies in quality  were reflected in several problematic patterns.