27% of Venezuelan children and adolescents do not have access to education

Save the Children prepared a study to analyze the situation of access to education for migrant children in Lima and La Libertad.

According to a study carried out by Save the Children, 27% of migrant children and adolescents residing in Lima and La Libertad are outside the educational system. The age group from 3 to 5 years of age is the one that houses the highest proportion of boys and girls of school age who do not attend classes (39%), followed by boys and girls from 6 to 11 years of age (34%).

The report “Migrant childhood and education: Access and permanence of education for Venezuelan boys and girls in Lima and La Libertad” indicates that the reasons that explain this problem are not having found vacancies available in educational centers, not having Internet and devices to access distance classes, having arrived in Peru after the first quarter of the year corresponding to the period in which enrollment is carried out and not having certificates of validation of studies and immigration documents.

Likewise, 25.5% of the Venezuelan refugee and migrant children who were enrolled did not attend classes daily. The main reasons associated with this situation are limited access to adequate technological devices and connectivity, support in household chores, lack of interest in attending classes and support in caring for dependent children and adults. elders of the home.

The research, which was carried out between October and December 2021, identified the existence of extra-age (when the child is older than the rest of his classmates) in 6 out of 10 Venezuelan children and adolescents enrolled, presenting an additional year to the normative age of the academic grade they are studying and concentrating on the initial level and the first four years of primary school (58.2%). Although students have not been excluded due to extra-age, cases were detected in which this situation conditioned their enrollment in an educational center.

“Those who do not meet the age criteria to enter regular basic education do not enter the night shift either. Thus they are left out and many do not try again. Being relegated from the educational system generates consequences at a socio-emotional level, such as self-esteem problems and feelings of insecurity. Finally, these children and adolescents face risks of labor and sexual exploitation,” said Verónica Valdivieso, director of Save the Children in Peru.

It was also recorded that migrant children are exposed to situations of discrimination, which could have an impact on the process of entering the educational system, having a direct impact on the learning process and permanence. According to the report, close to 10% of migrant children are not currently in school due to having suffered exclusion or discrimination by a director of the educational center.

Save the Children recognizes the importance of the right to education to guarantee access to better opportunities and to break the cycle of poverty, which is why it urges the Ministry of Education, the Regional Directorates of Education, and directors of the UGELs to guarantee access to the educational service of migrant children. Likewise, to guarantee the process of sociocultural integration of migrant children and adolescents in educational centers, through training and awareness-raising for teachers to guarantee the permanence in the educational system of this vulnerable group and the generation of safe study spaces.

“From Save the Children we have been working in La Libertad to ensure the access of migrant children to schools. We know that it is a challenge and we contribute by generating precedents and good practices. With the +Diversidad program, which we implement in partnership with other organizations, we seek to promote inclusive education with equal opportunities for migrant children and adolescents,” concludes Valdivieso.