{"id":5084452,"date":"2019-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/puerto-rico-seeing-large-population-declines-among-school-aged-children\/"},"modified":"2019-06-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T04:00:00","slug":"puerto-rico-seeing-large-population-declines-among-school-aged-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2019\/06\/13\/puerto-rico-seeing-large-population-declines-among-school-aged-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico seeing large population declines among school-aged children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of\nschool-aged children in Puerto Rico dropped 30 percent from 883,000 to 609,000\naccording to a report released by the Center for Puerto Rican studies at Hunter\nCollege in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n

In addition, the\nnumber of children under the age of 5 went from 251,000 in 2006 to 146,000 in\n2017 \u2014 a 42 percent decline, according to an article by nbcnews.com.<\/p>\n\n\n

Puerto Rico had\nbeen experiencing a population decline driven by migration and low birth rates\neven before it was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the nbcnews.com article\nsaid. After the hurricane hit, migration intensified especially among adults\nwith children, researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n

In 2009, the\nisland\u2019s population was about 3.9 million. In 2018, the population was 3.1\nmillion, according to the latest Census figures.<\/p>\n\n\n

The\nisland is undergoing a \u201cdemographic winter\u201d in which fertility rates are low \u2014\nbelow two children per woman, as migration from the island to the U.S. mainland\ncontinues, and deaths on the island exceed births, said demographer Alejandro\nMacarron.<\/p>\n\n\n

The report\u2019s researchers urge Puerto Rico\u2019s government to develop a broader plan beyond school closings to deal with the falling numbers of young children and working-age adults.<\/p>\n\n\n

The island has had 265 public schools close. Currently, 855 schools remain open, but this is a sharp decline from the island\u2019s peak of 1,515 open schools in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUGGESTION: Class Dismissed<\/em>, a CTLN special series on how the Puerto Rican community is dealing with the massive school closings.<\/h4>\n\n\n

The island\u2019s rural areas have seen a disproportionate number of schools closing \u2014 65 percent compared to 35 percent in urban areas.<\/p>\n\n\n

Edwin Melendez, the center\u2019s director, said, \u201cThe question is, how do we make the closings of schools more rational so that we attend to the needs of rural communities, and closing is not just based on considerations of costs and participation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Melendez and the report\u2019s other co-authors recommend that the island\u2019s government rethink how it is closing schools and take a more holistic approach that also considers other demographic changes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWe\nneed a more holistic and comprehensive focus in order to appropriately respond\nto these trends and consequences,\u201d Melendez said.<\/p>\n\n\n

The\nresearchers urged Puerto Rico\u2019s leaders to come up with a master plan for\nschools, use the closed schools for distance and adult education, or transform\nthem into community centers or \u201cresiliency\u201d centers for future hurricanes and\nother climate-related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n

Source: nbcnews.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The island is undergoing a \u201cdemographic winter\u201d in which fertility rates are low, as migration from the island to the U.S. mainland continues, and deaths on the island exceed births.”
\n-Alejandro Macarron, Demographer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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