Argentina: Buenos Aires Education Minister Under Fire for 'Giving up' on School Dropouts

By Giul Martin First Posted: Jan 22, 2022 04:38 AM EST

The Education Minister of Buenos Aires City in Argentina is being criticized for her comments about students in poor areas who dropped out of school in the wake of the pandemic.

Buenos Aires City's Education Minister Criticized After Saying It's 'Too Late' for Student Dropouts

(Photo : Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
A worker takes the temperature of a student upon entering the school at Escuela Tecnica Nº 27 D.E. Nº 18 Hipólito Yrigoyen on October 13, 2020 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After seven months, students of two schools are allowed to return to face-to-face teaching as a first step to go back to normal. Districts will approve which schools can reopen based on an epidemiological "traffic light system".

Currently, some areas in the United States are deciding to close their schools since the daily COVID-19 cases seem to worsen. Recently, WHO and other health agencies and independent researchers confirmed the appearances of Omicron, Delta, and Deltacron variants.

These new strains are considered to be more infectious than the recent variants. Since Argentina is one of the affected areas of COVID-19, many children are now deciding to leave their schools, particularly those residing in impoverished areas.

Buenos Aires City Education Minister in Argentina Now Criticized

According to Buenos Aires Times, the issue with Buenos Aires City Education Minister Soledad Acuña started after she said it was "too late" to look for dropouts from poor areas that failed to return to their classes after temporary shutdowns related to the pandemic.

(Photo : Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Getty Images)
Schoolchildren line up as they wait for their teacher to lead them to the classroom at the N°9 JIN A elementary school on February 17, 2021 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Students of the first years of elementary and secondary school, representing 47% of the total, resume on site lessons after one year of home schooling due to coronavirus pandemic. The rest of the students will return on the following weeks.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Acuña said the dropouts were now "lost" in the city's shantytowns and active in drug trafficking or had been forced to go to work. She added that there was no possibility for these students to re-enter the educational system.

"They have lost all possibilities and self-confidence regarding their opportunities to study. Obviously we must give it a try, but it is much harder than if this had been known two years ago with the [corresponding] decisions take," Acuña said.

Because of this, the ruling coalition's members considered her statement as a sign of "giving up" on the young individuals dropping out of school.

Economics and Politics reported that after Acuña made her remarks, Jaime Perczyck, the Minister of National Education, confirmed that they recorded 500,000 students who have not returned to their classes yet.

Soledad Acuña's Statement Receives Backlashes

Although Soledad Acuña received backlash over her statement, Argentina AS reported that it attracted the attention of various government agencies and officials in Argentina.

The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) said the words of Acuña were discriminatory and stigmatizing since she had already made an early conclusion.

Gabriela Cerruti, the spokesperson for President of Argentina Alberto Fernández, also shared her thoughts and said that it is never too late to encourage students to go back to their classes.

She noted that the national government always makes educational programs available to the public so everyone can attend or start returning to their classes this school year.