Venezuelans fill seats for school quotas for their children

Ecuadornews:

In mid-December, Ziu Molina arrived in Guayaquil, along with her two children aged 7 and 13, after traveling for more than five days on Colombian and Ecuadorian roads, fleeing the economic crisis facing her country. Yesterday, the Venezuelan immigrant was one of the hundreds of foreigners who filled one of the educational centers of the city to obtain a school quota in the fiscal sector.

I was a little nervous because I did not have all the documents required for this process. “In Caracas the school year began in September and ends in May, but I had to take my children out of school and leave my country to find new directions for them,” says the woman, who worked in her home country as a cashier at warehouse and now looking for work to help her children and husband, who came to Ecuador two years ago and currently works in a sewing workshop.

Ziu could not bring the promotions records, nor the report cards of the last years taken by the children. However, she trusts that she will not have problems to achieve the objective.

“I need a quota for them to study in a public institution,” she exclaimed, indicating that the salary her husband earns barely enough to cover basic needs, but not to pay for a particular education like the one their children had in Venezuela.

In the educational center, which operates at the Ismael Pérez Pazmiño school, located in the Alborada citadel, the staff in charge of the registration phase – which will end on January 19 – reviewed the documents and informed her of the way forward for get the quota. She left the place happy and said she will ask her relatives, who are still in Caracas, to send her some certificates that she needs to complete the process.

Rafael Betancourt, from the state of Barinas (western Venezuela), was also in the education center, who wanted a quota for his 9-year-old daughter, who goes to fourth grade. He is in Guayaquil since 2016 and last October he sent to see his family. “These years have been hard, but I already have a job with which I can support my wife and daughter. Now I want the girl to study in this country, because in Venezuela even schools are running out of teachers due to migration, “he noted.

But they were not the only foreigners looking for quotas. Mario Villavicencio, Colombian, also enrolled his son who goes to first basic.

“Last week they took the child a placement test and he is fit to go to school,” said the Peruvian enthusiast, because he knows that his son, like Ecuadorian students, will also enjoy benefits such as school feeding, uniforms, books and even transportation, in some cases, free of charge.

In the current Sierra cycle, 16,000 foreigners signed up to obtain a place in a public center. Of them, 12,000 are Venezuelans. And this is the same amount that is expected to register in the Costa regime. The slogan of the Ministry of Education is to register everyone and assign them a place on the campuses, regardless of their nationality. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/guayaquil/escuela-cupos-costa-venezolanos-estudio-CY2562370