Education as a dimension of human development: A Provincial-level Education Index for Ecuador

Bilingüe (Intercultural Bilingual Education Act, or LOEI) in 2011 [60]–last amended in 2021 [61]–which is currently in force. Schooled education consists of three levels: Initial Education, General Basic Education, and Baccalaureate (S2 Table). The major changes which the LOEI brought into non-university education were that Primary Education (six years) and Lower Sec- ondary (three years), from the previous system, became the ten-year General Basic Education by also including one further year, corresponding to Basic Preparatory Education. This latter educational level ceased to be optional after the approval of the LOEI and, in turn, Diversified Secondary Education (three years) came to be known as Baccalaureate (S1 and S2 Tables). In the field of university education, reforms were set out in the Leyes Orgánicas de Educa- ción Superior (Higher Education Acts, or LOES) of 2000 and 2010 [62, 63]. More recently, in 2018,–although outside the period analyzed in this paper–the Ley Orgánica Reformatoria a la Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior (Reform Act) was approved [64]. These reforms have mainly affected institutions that conform the national higher education system, in an effort to bolster it and ensure equal opportunities for students. Moreover, the duration of studies was also extended, now ranging from two years for full-time students in the High-level Technician Degree (increasing the number of teaching hours from 1,950 to 3,200) to six years for the Degree in Human Medicine. Postgraduate studies (Master’s Degrees) have a minimum dura-

tion of one and a half years (three semesters or other periods equivalent to 48 weeks) and they may entitle admission to a doctoral program. The PhD programs lasts a minimum of six semesters and a maximum of fourteen, plus two grace periods. Along with these reforms, other policies that may have contributed to the improvement of Ecuador’s educational development, such as the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), should be considered. The BDH is a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program whose origin lies in the Bono Solidario of 1998 [65, 66]. CCT programs were implemented by LAC countries at the request of international organizations between the end of the past century and the start of the 21st century. One of its main tools was the payment of a cash transfer conditional upon univer- sal access to social services in health and education [67, 68]. These programs, which were key symbols in poverty reduction [69], consider education as a vital factor in human development [70]. The BDH is part of the poverty eradication policy foreseen in the National Plans for Good Living, acting in close collaboration with the Ten-Year Education Plans. In fact, the BDH’s objectives included fostering school reinsertion and ensuring continued school attendance of children and adolescents [71]. Initially, co-responsibility in education was applied to selected families with children between the ages of 6 and 16. Throughout its over twenty years of existence, the BDH has undergone several changes which have affected,

among other things, criteria for selecting beneficiaries and the amount of the transfer. The lat- est reform of the BDH in 2019 adds to the fixed amount of USD 50 per month transferred to the heads of beneficiary households in extreme poverty, an additional variable component depending on the number and age of children under 18 years old. In this vein, the maximum amount that the monthly cash transfer can reach by adding the fixed and variable components is USD 150 [72]. This is the line followed by some studies that consider that a differentiated cash transfer according to the level of poverty (higher for the poorest), the age of the children (lower for the youngest) and the ethnic group (higher for indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian children) is essential [41]. Data and methods Data: The Ecuadorian Living Standards Measurement Survey Since the 1990s, there has been a considerable increase in the availability and robustness of national household surveys in LAC countries. Moreover, the subnational nature of many of PLOS ONE Education as a dimension of Human development PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270932 July 8, 2022 5 / 27