Wong Foundation. Education for the development of rural communities

2022-01-21

In Ecuador, the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it the mandatory isolation of the population as a mechanism to mitigate contagion. Regarding education, this could be circumvented with a virtual methodology in the vast majority of urban schools and universities. But the conditions were radically different in the rural context of the country, which, besides the health and economic crisis of households, also has a poor telecommunications infrastructure and low access to technological equipment. To this was added the inexperience of teachers, students and their families in virtual and distance learning.

Faced with the multiple challenges in rural school systems, the development of viable proposals for short-term care, leveling, educational support and accelerated education is essential. This with the purpose of sustaining school permanence and inclusion of those who have stopped studying due to the effects of the pandemic.

It is necessary to strengthen the professional vocations of rural youth aimed at the present and future productive capacity of the territories. For this, it is necessary to generate dual technical training opportunities such as: technical baccalaureate, post-baccalaureate, and technical and technological studies of higher education. Mechanisms that will allow their quick and timely insertion in the labor market, generating a boost for the country's economic and productive reactivation.

During the pandemic, the Wong Foundation has implemented a system of home visits to support our 530 students, managing to limit dropout to 3% in 2021. We have an ongoing educational resilience program in the 15 areas with the greatest access limitation that benefits 102 students. And we undertook in 2021 a Productive Technical Baccalaureate with specialization in banana production in conjunction with Reybanpac, in which 40 young adults participate. Likewise, we graduated 25 youth from the Technicians in Local Economics Program.

For the Wong Foundation, the purpose of rural education is to help students better understand the reality that surrounds them. Train them to transform it in positive ways that generate individual and collective well-being in the society in which they are immersed, and link community development with the educational process. For us it is very important that there is transversality between the ancestral knowledge that the communities have and the new knowledge to achieve an organic community development.

Recognizing the spiritual and material dimensions of the person who goes through the educational process allows us to contribute to the quality of thought and action of each individual. If we combine these dimensions with research and the search for knowledge to achieve individual and collective well-being, community leadership, the active participation of women in decision-making and an entrepreneurial vocation; then, we will have the potential to generate self-sustaining endogenous development, which strengthens the capacities of a region or community for social, economic and environmental development.

Education is crucial for the development of humanity, and even more so in rural areas. Therefore, we invite all companies, institutions and society in general to join in promoting quality and comprehensive education, and thus guarantee this right for all children and youth.

SHARE THIS POST