Lenín Moreno announces reopening of rural schools

Ecuadornews:

The reopening of rural schools will not reach the 7,000 that closed the correismo. The Government of Lenin Moreno offers to rehabilitate one thousand in the first year and two thousand until 2020. The process will begin in the poorest sectors. The rural areas of Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, Bolívar, Esmeraldas and the Amazon have been chosen, announced the Minister of Education, Milton Luna. Pichincha and Guayas are not yet taken into account in this process.

The Government decided that this year will be fulfilled with the reopening of a thousand schools, with an investment of 70 million dollars. A second phase will be completed in 2020, with a similar number of educational institutions throughout the country and an equal budget.

Luna recalled that 7,000 educational institutions were closed nationwide during the belt age. He acknowledged that despite the efforts made, they can only reopen two thousand of the total that were closed.

What will they do? Luna explained that in a month the mapping will be ready to identify community schools that will reopen. He affirmed that the process will be done gradually, and for this they will work directly with the communities. “At the moment in the ministry there are more than 1,000 requests from communities asking for reopening, and with this number we will start for this year,” he said.

In addition, he noted that in this work is also talking to the Decentralized Autonomous Governments and the private sector, to achieve agreements and that this process is fulfilled in a more agile and timely manner.

The Minister of Education did not want to advance how many students will move, nor did he mention the teachers. “Necessarily there will be a rationalization, restructuring and reorganization of teaching staff in the territory.” He clarified that more teachers will be hired if necessary.

On reducing the administrative burden on teachers, Luna confirmed that between 50 and 70% of teachers’ time is “wasted” in administrative procedures. Assistant Secretary José Brito explained that the professors perform 65 administrative operations, of which only six are directly related to their academic work.

In this regard, the minister said that the reduction of this burden will be between 5 and 10%, for teachers to dedicate themselves to the classroom, to be with the students. “We are going to recover the Ecuadorian teacher,” he said.

He specified that in the administrative field, in the case of the Costa regime, teachers in the new academic year that will begin in April will have to submit to the new structure.

While in the Sierra and the Amazon the process will be gradual, establishing the parameters of what processes can be dissociated immediately teachers. “We are going to eliminate this administrative burden, guiding who will comply with those obligations,” the minister said.

The last acts of violence that the country has experienced in recent weeks (murders, femicides) determined that the Government decides to carry forward, from the education sector, a change in the model for the inclusion of training in values.

The Minister of Education, Milton Luna, explained that a “refinement” of the academic material will be applied, especially in what is Social Studies.

In addition, more emphasis will be placed on the development of citizen skills, providing students and educational institutions with the necessary tools so that they can be used not only in the classroom, but also outside of them, in social activities.

Instruments that were already designed will be activated, such as coexistence agreements. And the participation of the school in the community and the family will be encouraged.

Study in a rural school

“Going to the city costs more than here in the enclosure”

Pools of stagnant water and inaccessible roads covered by mud are the main drawbacks when arriving at the Santa Teresita de Jesús de Ávila basic education school, located in the Las Chacras campus of the canton of Lomas de Sargentillo, in the province of Guayas. The campus is one of the few educational centers that were maintained with the modality of classes taught by a single teacher in the province of Guayas.

Approximately 40 children receive classes on campus, who come from this campus and the surroundings. The day begins from the route that the teacher performs every day from her natal Isidro Ayora to reach the establishment.

As of 07:00, the minors arrive at the school, mostly alone and others in the company of their representatives. In the classrooms there is not much difference, all are divided into three rooms. The class ends at approximately 12:30, but since they are now on exams, they have left early.

The representatives of the students are pleased to see that the campus has been always united and be close to their communities, although they regret that it is the only option they have for their children to receive basic education.

“Going to the city costs us because the tricimotos do not want to enter because of the problem of the road. The girls walk alone towards the river and it is dangerous to cross the bridge. It is difficult for children to enter and leave, we ask that the Government improve the access route, “said Mariuxi Criollo, who was educated at the school and currently is his son.

The tributary that Criollo mentions has increased its course due to the winter season and has also caused problems for the inhabitants, since it interrupted a road that they frequented to reach the educational center.

Gloria Méndez, representative of another of the minors, says that it is not in her best interest for her daughter to study outside the premises. The main complaint is the economic expense. “To go to the city you have to pay for tickets and there are many children who miss classes because they cannot travel,” she explains.

In the vicinity of the educational center there is a small park that serves as a recreational area, but the rains have caused the rust to consume some elements and the children choose not to play anymore.

The residents have witnessed the change that the school has had. They evoke that in the first instance it was known by another name and was built of cane; Then came the concrete. Self-management and arrangements by the surrounding inhabitants have also helped to raise the educational center. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/reapertura-escuelas-rurales-gobierno-leninmoreno-BY2607065