Infancy in Latin America Carolina Angela Muñoz Lepe Porto, Abril 2007 International Programme: Coping with Inclusion in Primary Schools

Infancy in Latin America

Carolina Angela Muñoz Lepe

Porto, Abril 2007

International Programme: Coping with Inclusion in Primary Schools

Early Infancy in Latin America

In spite of a lot of international agreements,many childrens in Latin America are still being refused their rights of economic and social equality, as well as their opportunities and participation in the society.

The magnitud of inequality tends to vary dramatically not only among every country in the region, but also across each of them.

Even though the region produces three times more food than its population needs, approximately one of every six children suffers from growth delay caused by problems with poor nutrition.

However, there are some encouraging indicators for the region, for example, the presence of a decreasing rate of infant mortality.

Infancy in Latin America Precedents…

Economic and social disparities in Latin America and the Carib are certainly the main cause of health problems among poor people. For example, children who live in the poorest sectors are almost four times more likely to suffer from underweight diseases than children who live in middle-class sectors.

Mortality rate, disability levels and other infant problems follow similar patterns according to the social and economic situation.

Infancy in Latin AmericaPrecedents...

Economic inequality seems to be a characteristic in Latin America. The index of poverty amount to 50 % of the population, and 55 % of them are children.

Handicaps in Latin America Precedents…

According to WHO, about 300 to 500 million people in the world suffer from some type of disability, and roughly half of them are children or teenagers.

80 % of these children live in developing countries.

Only in Latin America lives about 85 million people who suffer some type of disability.

Primary Education in Latin America

Nowadays the access of the children to primary education do not show significant differences. However, it is worth to remark that gender parity in primary school has become a new phenomenon during the last years. Unfortunately, it is far from being the reality in the most isolated communities.

A lot of girls, specially from rural regions,amerindians communities and afro descendants, are still being excluded from the primary education.

Primary Education in Latin America

Gender disparity in the Carib region is currently a big issue for local governments. There are definitely more boys than girls dropping out school, specially in communities with high unemployment and violence rates.

Secondary Education in Latin America

A lot of young students face big difficulties finding a good- quality secondary education, as well as obtaining protection against abuse, explotation and violence, and even getting access to basic sexual education.

Approximately one of every three women of the region gets pregnant before turning 20 years old.

According to the last UNICEF indicators, only 51 % of girls and 44 % of boys, from the region, have access to secondary school . .


The school desertion rate in poors areas is definitely higher among boys than girls. This is explained by the fact that boys must take the responsability to get a job in order to collaborate with the household living expenses.


The early maternity in women force many teenagers to drop ot school..

Looking for measures to prevent that situation,for example, in Chile in 2000, was promulgated a law which guarantees the right of the pregnant teenagers and mothers to remain in school. The law demands that a pregnant woman or mother teenager cannot be forced to change schedules or location of the school due to her condition, and forces the schools to facilitate the access to all kind of health services during the pregnancy and after the childbirth.

International Agreements

Especially during the 90s, organizations worldwide, like UNICEF, UNESCO and others, generated diverse meetings, declarations and commitments among countries of the region in order to foster the access to education and equity, as a way to reduce the inequality and to suppress any type of discriminations

Integration in Chile

International Programme:Coping with Inclusion in Primary Schools

Carolina Angela Muñoz Lepe

Porto, Abril 2007

CHILE, some information

Chile is a Republic governed by a democratic government, (President from 2006: Michelle Bachelet)

Population: 16. 134. 219 Language: Spanish Ethnicity/race:95% white and white-

amerindian ,3% amerindian , 2% others.

Religions: Roman Catholic 89% Industries: copper, others minerals,

foodstuffs, fish processing, iron and steel, wood and wood products, transport equipment, cement, textiles.

Santiago, the Capital

Torres del Paine

Chile

Chile is situated between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean in a narrow strech of land that does not exceed a maximun width pf 350 kilometres. The country extends from its frontiers with Peru and Bolivia in the north till the Antartic territories where we have various military and scientific bases. The maximun extension of our territories reaches a 4329 kilometres.

Chile

Contrast and diversity characterizes our geography. In the north, the climate condictions the existence of the most ardent desert in the worl located in the Atacama region. While in the center of Chile, green and fertile valleys multiply and provide fruits and vegetables for the population and the international markets that used to the hight quality of our fruits, wines and grapes among others.

The south of Chile is extreme beauty, with ancients forest, and lakes . There are a multitude of very good parks and plenty of opportunities for fine adventure travel.

Landscapes

Atacama Desert

Native sculptures from Rapa Nui

Glacier San Rafael

Chilean Educational system

According to the Constitution, primary and high school are mandatory for all citizens. A free public system of education is provided by the State in order to assist students who cannot afford a private education.

The levels of education in Chile are:

Preschools education, which is not mandatory and mostly privately funded. Nowadays It is in process of reform trough the program " Chile Grows with You" which seeks to provide every poor child, the access to child-cares and pre-school establishments on a free way. It is expected to be in full-operation by 2009.

Chilean Educational system

Primary School, or Enseñanza Básica, from children from 5-6 to 12-13 years old, divided en 8 grades. Private or Public schools.

Secondary School, or Enseñanza Media from 13-14 to 17- 18 years old,divided un 4 grades and, additionally, divided in Science- Humanities approach and Technical one, intended to deliver some working special abilities.

Superior education , which is divided in two systems: a traditional one which selects students through a University Selection Test, or PSU; and a “private system” with a unique admission system for each establishment

International agreements of protection to the infancy

Some recent agreements signed by Chile are:

Convention on Children Rights, on 1989 World conference on Education for All

UNESCO 1990 Salamanca´s Statements, and

framework for action on special needs education, on 1994

Inter-American convention for the Elimination of the Discrimination in Disability OEA 1998

And others…

Chile, some precedents…

Even though Chile shows better economic indicators compared to other countries of the region, it must face similiar social and educational problems than the rest of Latin America.

Chile is usually it is considered as an open economy, decentralized, in process of modernization and carrying out important reforms in social issues..

In absolute terms, the poverty levels in Chile has decreased over the last year. However high levels of disparity still remain.

Chilean indicators

The literacy rate amount to 96,5 % (evenly men and women)

99 % of students only complete 5th degree in elementary education of primary education.

The desertion rate in primary education amount to 1,4 % and 7,3 %. in secondary education (1994 - 2004)

School desertation is between

4 and 6 times bigger in public schools (than in private).


The integration in regular schools of students with special educational needs associated with some disability, is a relatively recent phenomenon in Chile.

During the 60s, Chile, as well as other countries in the region, initiated an educational reform with the purpose of extending the coverage of the educational system to respond to the universalization of basic education for the whole population in school age.

In the 70s, to give content to children with disabilities that they were not benefiting of the regular education, was created a modality of special education. In this way a parallel system were consolidate. The special schools were organized concerning certain diagnostic categories.


The influence of the principles of normalization and educational integration, were perceived in Chile on 80´s. On that period beginning the incorporation of concepts as “educational special needs”. From this approach begins the incorporation of pupils with sensory disability in regular school.

This period (decade 80) was characterized by the start of punctual experiences of school integration, rather isolated and slightly systematic and frequently product from individual wills from publish like privately institutions.


In 90s, with the advent of a democratic system there happen a series of events that realize major political will in this direction.

It´s provided a legal frame that makes possible the acces, permanency and progress of pupils with disabilities in the regular education, including state subsidy for every pupil integrated into a public schools.

In 1994, the goverment created FONADIS (National Funds for the Disability) entity that subminister technical and economic supports for the development of favouring projects of integration.

Educative Centers and Educational Special Needs

The current educational system contemplates different options to give response to the educational special needs . It´s necessary to mention:

a) Special schools and centers of training. It is the modality with more path and the most chosen by the parents. They have different studie´s programs for each deficit, wich are, in major or minor degree different from those of the regular education.


b) Regular Schools

- With a Integration´s Proyect : Schools that have elaborated a Project and expire with a series of conditions. They can choose to getting a state subsidy extra for every integrated pupil.

- With differential groups: Schools that receive pupils with educational special needs "to rest them on their educational process ". They can meet on transitory or permanent form. This schools do not consider necessarily modifying their educational programs.


c) Schools and Hospitable Classrooms: modality that allows "compensatory" education to pupils with health´s problems, who must remain in hospitable centers for a minimum of three months.

Modalities of integration

The Chilean regulation, identifies 4 modalities of school integration:

1) Integration and Participation for the pupil in the totality of the school´s activities with a regular course

2) Courses segregated inside the regular school, in many cases without social contact because they have deferred playtime.

3) 80% of participation in the common classroom and the remnant in special units inside or out of the school (20 %)

4) 50% of participation in the common classroom and other one 50 % in special units inside or outside school.

Integration in Chile, some results

The current situation shows a wide variety of experiences with different results and degrees of development:

- Some of these experiences are just a physical acceptance of pupils with disability, without a significat action for favoring their social participation and school learning.

- Others eperiences make more emphasis on the pupil´s socialization and pay little attention to the development of others issues, arguing that these represent a high exigency for those pupils and the consideration that this aspect is a specialist´s matter.

- Also there are experiences in which the principle of incorporation is assumed by the whole community and it becomes part of the school´s project.


Since the political integration became official (10 years ago) there have been important progresses on integretation in the society. Nevertheless such progresses have been insufficient so far. Integration keeps on being a local rather than a widespread phenomenon.


The project of integration is increasing, however, it is still scanty in global terms, there are about 740 schools in the whole country (just 3,7 % of the children's whith educational special needs are matriculated)

Many children are “integrated” in unappropriate conditions, in special classrooms inside the regular school without benefiting from the school official curriculum and with scanty opportunities of social interaction with their couples.

The permanency in the school, in many cases, depends on the teacher´s will and in many cases the responsibility of the learning continues relapsing exclusively into the professional specialist.


There are neither studies nor evaluations that show us how have the integration in the country been developed.

One of the assumptions is that the mayority of the pupils currently enjoying the benefits from a integration project, had been already awarded. Just recently were they recognized as students with “special educational needs”.

According MINEDUC, in 1999 the pupils with disability’s matriculation in special schools was 54.000 and only 10 % was integrated to regular schools. (5.400 pupils).

Most of basic schools with integrated pupils neither have adapted its curricular structure nor have modified its habitual pedagogic guidelines.

In Chile, the human and material resources allocated to students are concentrated in special schools. There are not clear mechanisms that facilitate the collaboration and coordination btween special and regular schools.


The trend is that schools conceive the idea of integration as a gradual process of development, therefore, they started with a small number of pupils, in general with slight disabilities and usually coursing the first

levels of education.

One of the difficulties in Chile is related with a change of attitude and social representation. Negative attitudes and resistance to the integration are linked with social prejudices, for fear of unknown issues and for not be able to handle the difference.

Indicators of Disabilities in Chile

In Chile the number of people who suffer from any type of disability is still unknown.

While 1996 the information was: about 616.432 persons (150.000 in school age),in 2004 we were said about 2.100.000 persons with disability,

238.539 of them aged between 5 and 26, and just 157.000 are studying

80.000 are not part of the educational system. In synthesis, only the third part of the pupils

with disability are registered in the educational system.

The same study indicates that there are about 23.000 children who suffer from disability and aged between 0 and 5.

Most people who suffer from any type of disabilities are aged between 30 and 64. They have little chances to afford a lifelong education, a labour formation, or any other posibilities from which obtain social benefits.

Indicators of Disabilities in Chile

Reflextion….

The mixes (aborigens from Oaxaca's region, in Mexico) don’t have in their language the word "integration", not because a language’s limitations, but because in their culture anybody is excluded from the activities of the community …

THE END

Documents

Infancy in Latin America Carolina Angela Muñoz Lepe Porto, Abril 2007 International Programme: Coping with Inclusion in Primary Schools