An Overview of the Educational Landscape in Colombia

Colombia, South America’s second most populous country, faces both opportunities and challenges in its educational sector. With a commitment enshrined in its constitution, Colombia recognizes education as a fundamental right and a social obligation of the state. This article provides an overview of the educational situation in Colombia, examining its historical roots, current structure, key issues, and ongoing efforts to improve educational outcomes.

Historical Context

Modern education in Colombia was initially introduced by the Catholic Church during the Spanish colonial era. The first schools were established in the 16th century to educate the children of colonizers, followed by Catholic seminaries and universities, including Saint Thomas University, which opened in Bogotá in 1580.

After independence, the Colombian state gradually took over the administration of the education system, although the Catholic Church continued to exert influence into the 20th century. In 1870, elementary education was declared free and compulsory in public schools. However, progress was initially hampered by opposition from the church and slow development in rural areas. As recently as 1970, a significant percentage of rural school-age children did not attend school, and rural schools often lacked resources.

As secondary school enrollment increased, the higher education system expanded as well. The tertiary gross enrollment ratio (GER) rose from 5% in 1972 to 23% by the end of the century. The system diversified with smaller private institutions supplementing state universities and private Catholic universities. This rapid expansion resulted in a heterogeneous higher education system with quality disparities between top institutions and lower-tier universities. Despite this growth, access to higher education remained limited, with an absorption rate of only 55% in 2011.

Current Structure of the Colombian Education System

Colombia is a decentralized but unitary state divided into 32 departments, which are further subdivided into 1,123 municipalities. The Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN) in Bogotá sets overall education policy and school curricula and monitors education quality. At the local level, administrative responsibilities are determined by a process of certification.

Levels of Education

The Colombian education system is grouped into five categories:

Early Childhood Education (Educación Inicial): This includes care for children under five. Most children over one year old are provided with daycare and nursery school in "Hogares Comunitarios" (community homes) sponsored by the National Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF).
Preschool Education (Educación Preescolar): Offered in three stages: pre-kindergarten (pre-jardín, age three), kindergarten (jardín, age four), and a transitional year (transición, age five).
Basic Education (Educación Básica): A compulsory cycle comprising elementary education (educación básica primaria, grades 1 to 5) and basic secondary education (educación básica secundaria, grades 6 to 9). Elementary education begins at age six and is provided free of charge at public schools.
Middle Education (Educación Media): Two years of non-compulsory secondary education (grades 10 and 11).
Higher Education (Educación Superior): Divided into undergraduate and graduate degrees, regulated by Law 30 of 1992. University degrees are typically five years long, while technical training lasts three years. Graduate education includes specializations, master's, and Ph.D. programs.

Certified Territorial Entities (CTEs)

All 32 departments and all municipalities of at least 100,000 inhabitants, as well as some smaller municipalities, have been designated as "Certified Territorial Entities" (CTEs). These CTEs implement education policies and oversee public and private schools within their jurisdictions, including the autonomous management of funding and teaching staff.

Centralized Higher Education

In contrast to the decentralized school system, higher education in Colombia is centrally steered by the MEN, which licenses all HEIs, public or private, and provides quality assurance with the assistance of institutions like the Consejo Nacional de Acreditación (CNA) or the Comisión Nacional de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Superior (CONACES).

Academic Calendar

The academic year in Colombia consists of 40 weeks of study over two semesters divided by a 12-week break. Departments can choose between two different semester systems, but currently, all of them use the system that runs from February to November.

Language of Instruction

While Colombia is a multicultural society with more than 87 ethnic groups and 64 spoken indigenous languages, Spanish is the official language and predominant language of instruction. However, in some regions, indigenous and other languages are used as the medium of instruction alongside Spanish.

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English Proficiency

There has been a great emphasis on promoting English proficiency in recent years to enhance Colombia’s competitiveness in the global economy. The “National Bilingual Program 2004-2019” made English a mandatory subject of upper-secondary school curricula and specified set English proficiency levels. Despite significant progress, proficiency levels have recently fallen short of official targets.

Key Issues and Challenges

Despite progress in expanding access to education, Colombia continues to face several challenges:

Inequality

Social inequalities are pervasive at all levels of Colombian education. Only 25% of the poorest Colombians attended university in 2016, compared to 61% of the richest Colombians. Disparities in access to education and health services exist between regions and socioeconomic groups. Enrollment rates in rural areas are over 20 percentage points lower than in urban areas, and rural students scored significantly lower than urban students in OECD assessments.

Quality of Education

The OECD PISA study reflects relatively poor learning outcomes in comparison to other nations. In the 2018 study, Colombia ranked second to last among 37 OECD countries. There are significant differences in quality between public and private schools, with private schools generally outperforming public schools.

Funding

While Colombia’s overall education spending as a percentage of GDP has surpassed spending levels in other upper middle income countries, funding for higher education is low and fails to keep up with surging enrollments. Higher education spending has been a source of conflict, with debates over the role of the state and the expansion of private, for-profit education.

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Dropout Rates

Dropout rates remain a concern, particularly in rural areas. A significant percentage of students do not continue their education past upper-secondary education. High dropout rates in universities are attributed to an overloaded system, a lack of a standard curriculum, and insufficient teacher salaries.

Teacher Absenteeism

A high degree of teacher absenteeism contributes to the challenges in the education system. Ensuring that teachers are paid on time and improving their working conditions is essential for maintaining governance and advancing policy goals.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in Colombia’s education sector. Connectivity issues in remote areas prevented many students from accessing online education, while teachers struggled to adapt to virtual instruction. The resulting learning gaps remain evident, particularly among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Impact of Violence and Displacement

Displacement and threats faced by teachers in conflict-affected areas are major barriers to improving rural education. The ongoing presence of guerrilla groups also puts children at risk of recruitment as child soldiers.

Labor Market Alignment

Bridging the gap between research and industry, developing relevant competencies, and improving technical and technological education are key challenges in aligning higher education with labor market demands. Many university graduates end up in technical roles for which they are overqualified, underscoring the need to enhance the quality and relevance of technical education programs.

Brain Drain

There’s a massive brain drain of students and professionals amid rampant food insecurity, crime, unemployment, lack of education funding, on-campus violence, and the closure of academic institutions in Venezuela. According to UNESCO, there were some 4.5 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide in 2020, about a third of them in Colombia. However, providing access to education to most Venezuelans in Colombia is a major challenge.

Efforts to Improve Education

Despite these challenges, Colombia has made significant efforts to improve its education system:

Increased Spending and Participation

Efforts to increase spending and participation in education have paid off in recent years. The tertiary gross enrollment ratio (GER) almost doubled from 28% in 2004 to 55% in 2018, according to UNESCO.

Government Initiatives

The government has launched several initiatives to improve education, including:

The National Development Plan 2018-22 (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, PND): Allocates significant funding to the education sector with the objective of having 60% of students attend higher education institutions by the end of 2022.
The 2018-22 Education Sector Plan: Aligns closely with the PND and addresses overall student well-being and infant education.
La Mejor Educada (The Best Educated) Initiative: A 2015-25 strategic framework aimed at positioning Colombia as the most educated country in Latin America by 2025.
Generación E: A program intended to provide education to 336,000 students with a total investment of $3.6 billion.
Coding for Kids: A program to train 15,600 students in computer programming by the end of 2019.
Pact for Science, Technology and Innovation: An initiative to increase investment in R&D and collaboration between companies and universities.

Focus on Rural Education

As part of the 2016 peace accord, the government promised to boost education in rural zones, in the form of a special rural education plan. The General Participation System (Sistema General de Participaciones, SGP) helps rural communities receive government funding.

Emphasis on Technical Education

The government recognizes the importance of technical education in increasing employability and adaptability. The technical education sector is expanding, and graduates are required to take the TyT (Tecnico y Tecnologo) test to ensure competency.

Bilingualism

The government has made efforts to promote bilingualism through the “National Bilingual Program 2004-2019,” making English a mandatory subject in upper-secondary school curricula.

Internationalization

Colombia’s increasing outbound student mobility reflects the massification of higher education and rising income levels in the country. The number of tertiary students increased significantly between 2002 and 2018. The government also supports scholarship programs for master’s and doctoral studies.

Community Colleges

Colombia has a robust technical professional higher education system which bears some resemblance to community colleges. Exchanges with these institutions can benefit systems in both countries.

Trends and Statistics

Colombia’s average adult literacy rate is 94.7%, slightly higher than that of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 2017, there were 10 million students enrolled in education, with the majority at the primary and secondary levels.
The division between students attending public versus private schools was 97.1% and 2.9%, respectively, in 2017.
The government expenditure on education was 4.4% of GDP in 2017, on par with the regional average.
The number of postsecondary graduates in Colombia grew from 513,104 in 2019 to 535,963 in 2022.
The greatest increase in higher education graduates between 2021 and 2022 was in the technical professional area, which saw a 22.5% increase during that time period.

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