[Opinión] Jorge Yzusqui: A smooth start to the school year

We are a few weeks away from the start of a new school year and we hope that the social scenario will not cause delays or delays in the return to school scheduled for March 13.

One of the big problems that afflicts the Peruvian system is school dropout, which worsened with the pandemic.

A few days ago, the Ombudsman’s Office indicated that almost 62,000 students did not rejoin the education system in 2022. The regions with the highest dropout rates were Cajamarca (70%), Amazonas, La Libertad (both with 60%), Piura (58 %), Áncash, Madre de Dios and San Martín (more than 50%).

The figures are more tragic if we add them to the learning gaps. How do we guarantee that these thousands of students reintegrate into the educational system? How do we work so that each student in schools can make up for lost time?

Follow-up and monitoring systems are essential: we must guarantee vacancies in schools, the infrastructure and the necessary folders; we must ensure that teachers are in class and have the necessary support tools; that we have spaces for the recovery of learning and accompaniment so that not one more child stops studying.

There are many demands from the sector, but now we must focus on the start of the school year and that this not only allows students to be received in the best conditions, but also that they can move without problems and that they are free of dangers throughout the country.