Standing in line for a good education! Or not?

Pubished en El Pais, 21 Jan 2018

In Bolvia, like every year in January, it is time to register your kids for school and for many parents this is one of these unpleasant bureaucratic events that return every year. When you have kids that go to school for the first time, it is a severe nightmare that involves getting long and almost eternal lines. This year the registration started on Monday, but I already saw people camping on Sunday morning at the schools hoping they would get a place for their kids. If your kids are already at a school it is easier, but waiting for 2 to 3 hours is still not an exception.

What I see is that every year there are several schools that are incredibly popular, and people are almost willing to sell their soul to the devil to get a place there. This seems that the perceived quality is extremely different. Also, parents are willing to drive 15 km every day to leave the kids at a certain school. I think the quality of all the schools should be nearly the same. For sure there are currently schools that nobody looks at but its quality is better than people think.

First, the problem of the registration. Nobody likes to make lines, so why don’t we have easy website where one can register their kid at a school? and if it is the first time to give 5 schools in order of preference. Then, the system could do a lottery to assign the children without the parents have to get in lines, camping, doubtful gambling, etc. Like that no bribes exists, all registered and end of December would already know where the kids will go to. Ah, and the payment can go by bank.

Second, to see the real quality of the school, a standard exam should be made for all the country and applied for primary and secondary at the end of the year like that the schools can evaluate clearly what they need to focus on to improve the quality. A bit of competition cannot harm, all the contrary. I think I we as parents pay for a school or pay taxes to have good education, we should get good value in return. I think that after a few years these results can even be published so parents can see which schools are the best value for their money.

Maybe I am a bit hard, but for an economy to grow good education is essential and I think also the teachers have better things to do than spending a whole week on bureaucratic registrations. Let’s learn to incorporate the technology in our processes.