Effect of the pandemic on the educational system: The case of Colombia
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Abstract
This paper describes the recent behavior of some indicators of the Colombian educational system considering the effect of the pandemic. In addition, the impact of a pilot alternation plan, executed between September and December 2020, on the results of the Saber 11 test, which was carried out in November of the same year, is empirically evaluated. Indicators on basic education reveal that the pandemic caused a greater demand for education services in official schools, increased dropout, and repetition rates, and widened the gaps in academic performance. In higher education, the downward trend in the number of students enrolled is maintained, as well as the gaps in academic performance, when considering different socioeconomic factors of the students. The estimates of the empirical exercise, which assesses the effectiveness of the alternation plan, indicate that the students who participated in the experiment obtained, on average, better results in the Saber 11 test compared to the students who remained in the non-face-to-face scheme.