Unwanted Effects of Job Training in Secondary Education in Colombia

Abstract

Public secondary education in Colombia is going from the detrimental extreme of limiting itself to serving as a bridge for higher education to an opposite and equally negative pole: that of providing training for low-skilled jobs or aptitudes for “self-employment,” but without the instruction students require to get started. These trends are aggravating inequality in education, based on socio-economic origin. Although job training of this type may have some impact on broadening job opportunities, which has yet to be measured, it limits young people’s professional and economic development. A more in-depth assessment of these training programs is warranted, particularly one that goes beyond the criterion of coverage as a factor of relevance.