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prima:The best Three Kings’ gift for our boys and girls

January 5, 2025 - 1:20 PM

Puerto Rican Christmas -often called “the longest in the world”- culminates this Monday with Three Kings Day, the most special time of the year for children and an opportunity for adults to reflect on the society we are leaving to the little ones.

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Lee este artículo en español.

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It is no secret that Puerto Rico has been going through a deep institutional, economic and social crisis for years, the effects of which, of course, have not spared our children. But it is also no secret that we are a courageous and resilient people who can find ways to overcome these enormous challenges, especially when it comes to providing better living conditions for future generations.

We invite, then, that the Feast of the Epiphany, which this year also coincides with the inauguration of a new government, headed by Governor Jenniffer González, serve as an inspiration for us to launch, without further delay, initiatives and policies aimed at improving the quality of life and future prospects of our children.

The task is titanic. But, as with any titanic task, without the first step we will not be able to take the second and so on.

Fifty-seven percent of citizens under the age of 17 in Puerto Rico live below the poverty level, according to the Youth Development Institute, a non-governmental organization. That is an alarming statistic, which is even more so when you consider that among children under the age of four it is even higher: 64%. To put it in English: the majority of children in Puerto Rico live in poverty and deprivation, with all the sad consequences that this has on the life of any person, and even more so on the life of a child.

For example, there are many studies, both recent and old, that establish the terrible effects that manifestations of poverty such as precariousness, economic stress, lack of access to technology and culture, and even poor nutrition have on children’s academic performance.

Education, by the way, is the equalizer par excellence and the gateway to social mobility for people born into poverty and deprivation. With quality and accessible education at all levels, people have a great chance of breaking the cursed cycle of poverty. Unfortunately, our public education system has been failing our children for generations.

The Department of Education recently celebrated a slight improvement in student performance on standardized tests. But the celebration could not hide the fact that, even with the improvement, most students are not proficient in basic subjects: only 39% are proficient in Spanish, 33% in mathematics and 30% in English. That has been more or less the picture for years.

The issue of poverty and lack of access to quality education are not the only barriers to the advancement of our children. There is violence, the difficulty of getting mental health services, the scarcity of accessible sports and recreation programs, and the endless problems faced by families of children with functional diversity, among many others.

From the issue of education, however, stem many of the other problems. We believe, therefore, that child poverty and the many problems of public education should be on the new governor’s list of priorities.

Tomorrow, early in the morning, the archipelago will be flooded with smiles from all the children receiving their precious toys. Many, however, will depend on charity -which these days is not lacking- to also have their gift.

The best gift we can give everyone, however, is a country that gives everyone the opportunity to prosper, develop and achieve happiness and peace. No society can have a more important goal than that.

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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.

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