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Schools in Argentina Reeling From Collapse of Economy

By Robert C. Johnston

Over the past decade, Argentina has gradually retooled its education system, largely to generate more opportunities and enhance school quality in the poorest sectors of Latin America's second-largest country.

In 1993, the Argentine government raised the number of years of compulsory education from seven to 10 and laid down a plan to relinquish federal control over schools. It also launched a multimillion-dollar effort to upgrade materials and services for its neediest learners.

But when Argentina's economy—after a long, slow slide—collapsed suddenly at the end of last year, the hope and promise born of those efforts abruptly ended. Today, many educators there wonder if schools will even open next month to begin...