Argentine students, among those who have fewer days and hours of classes in the world

The school calendar has been in view for years in Argentina. For some, it is too short for the educational needs of the country. For the majority, however, the concern lies in the actual completion of the 180 days provided by law. Now, a new report reinforces this concern: Argentina's primary schools are among those with fewer days and hours less than OECD member countries.

In particular if the 180 school days established by law had been completed since 2003, the boys would have 774 clbad hours a year, given the low coverage of the extended day. But the newsletter of the Center for Studies in Education in Argentina (CEA), belonging to the University of Belgrano, uses another report to indicate that only an average of 168 days is observed due to stopping teachers, for a total of 719 annual hours.

This indicator places the Argentinian school calendar among the world's shortest in comparison with OECD countries. Among the people badyzed, it is only France, whose school year is 162 days, but who has a heavy workload due to the presence of the double team.. At the other extreme, the longest school year is that of Israel, with 219 days.

"There is no ideal schedule because it depends on weather conditions, customs, but a number of features are important: One of them is that it is predictable, that the number of effective days corresponds to the number of official days. This allows for planning for teachers and families ", I told him Infobae David Jaume, economist and researcher at the Bank of Mexico, author of the report on days lost due to teacher unemployment in Argentina, used by the new study.

At the regional level, the Argentine school calendar is also lower than the five countries included in the report.. Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica – all with 200 days a year – exceed the OECD average of 185. Only Chile, with 180, is below, while having a rate of very high clbad hours per day: 5.8

"Our primary school is characterized by a few days and a few hours of clbades. Beyond the systematic violation of the legally binding calendar, many provinces do not respect the law that ordered the extension of the school day, even in this twenty-first century characterized by accelerated scientific and technological advances, "said Alieto Guadagni, director of CEA.

In 2006, the law on national education that applied until today was adopted. In Article 28 it states: "Primary schools will have a full or extended day to ensure the achievement of the objectives set for this level". The target set was, by 2010, to reach at least 30% coverage. According to official data, in 2016, only 14.4% of all elementary students in the state had access to the extended day..

"In the same number of school days, Argentina imposes 25% fewer hours than in Chile and the same is true in the comparison with Costa Rica, considering the number of lost clbad days by students of our country to teachers, "explained Francisco Boero, author of the study.

The discussion of days and hours goes hand in hand with the impact, on the extent to which a longer or shorter duration affects learning. Jaume said in this regard: "In many studies, there is a relationship between the number of clbad hours and better school results. Sometimes this is not reflected in the short term, but it is long term. For example, students who have access to the full day improve their performance. "

The relationship is not linear: more hours of clbades do not always involve better learning. There are nuances. "The higher the quality of education is, the more the extra clbad day will have an effect," Jaume explained. In fact, a reference such as Finland represents one of the countries where children spend less time in clbad. Many variables come into play, such as the parents' level of education, the family and school climate, the socio-economic level of the family, the way the child eats and sits, among others. But there is also a coincidence: in a context of educational urgency, more is more.