The Right to Education in Latin America: A Comparative Analysis of the Public Expenditure´s Efficiency and Educational Perspectives for the city of Bogota, Colombia

Abstract

By elaborating a comparative study, the present document attempts to identify significant public policy experiences to efficiently guarantee the right to education. For this purpose, the document proposes a Compound Index for the Right to Education and applies the Free Disposal Hull methodology.  In a set of twenty countries in Latin America, Cuba, Argentina and Uruguay have been the most efficient countries in materializing the right to education in primary and secondary school. Besides the acknowledgement  of “intraschool factors”, the study has identified four key elements to explain the advancement in those countries: i) the importance given to preschool education, ii) the use of ICTs, iii) the professionalization of the pedagogic work of teachers and iv) the high percentage of student admission expectation at the university.  All of these factors could become strong referents for the city of Bogota and for its interest in guaranteeing the right to education.