COLOMBIA: Rural Post-Primary Education

Context

 Twenty-nine percent of the Colombian population lives in dispersed areas or towns with fewer than 5000 inhabitants. Thirty-eight percent lives in districts and towns whose economies are based on agriculture. Life in the rural areas of Colombia is characterized by poverty, rising unemployment, and criminal and political violence. Despite a sustained decline in the incidence of poverty in recent decades, the problem remains critical for the population affected. Seventy percent of the population with income below subsistence levels lives in rural areas, compared with an average of 54 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. The main causes of rural poverty include inadequate access to basic health and education, as well as limited access to productive resources (land, credit, and appropriate technology).
The rural post-primary program targets children between the ages of 11 and 17 having completed the 5th grade in rural schools. It is a basic secondary education program (grades 6 to 9) designed to expand coverage with quality. It operates within the school system and incorporates formal and informal educational activities.
The program is currently underway in 16 departments in the five major regions of Colombia (Atlantic Coast, Western, Eastern-Central, Amazon, and Orinoqu�a.

Objetives

  • To enable youths in rural areas having completed the 5th grade of primary education to continue their studies through grade nine, in their own environment and under conditions adapted to their resources and needs.
  • To promote quality education through strategies for the reduction of urban-rural disparities.
  • To develop educational strategies for the development of youths with creativity, critical thinking, and educational self-motivation.
  • To contribute to rural development, integration of the school into the community, and the promotion of autonomous management and community participation, involving communities, parents, organizations, and institutions in the development of the program.
  • To optimize the use of educational infrastructure and resources.

    Pedagogical Challenges

    The Colombian educational system made great progress in expanding basic primary education in rural schools during the 1980s and early 1990s, implementing the New School model, which permits full primary education of high-quality to be offered in one- or two-teacher schools within the framework of the Program to Achieve Universal Basic Primary Education. As a result, a large number of students were soon completing fifth grade but with few options for continuing their secondary education within the formal educational system. The post-primary program is an effort to permit continued progress.

    General Description

    The rural post-primary education program has consisted of three stages:
  • During the 1990s, the program was in the design and small-scale pilot stage, beginning with the organization of four pilot centers from 1990 to 1993.
  • Between 1994 and 1996 the program was expanded to 30 centers, and since 1997, expansion has continued at an average rate of 100 centers per year, reaching a total of 500 centers in 2001.
  • By 2003, 200 more centers are expected to be organized and operating, providing coverage for 70,000 basic secondary education students, financed essentially by the departmental and municipal governments. A second (2004-2007) and third stage (2008-2010) are expected to fully meet needs throughout the country. One of the basic activities up to the year 2003 will be to evaluate the impact of post- primary and other activities and to update the educational materials.

    Participating Individuals and Institutions

    The main stakeholders are as follows:
  • Children between the ages of 11 and 17.
  • Educational communities (parents, former students, teachers, teaching directors, school administrators, education supervisors, core group directors).
  • Local, departmental, and national governments.
  • The productive sector. The post-primary centers coordinate activities with the Normal Schools, the Rural Development Centers (CDRs), the Technical Agricultural Institutes (ITAS), the Agricultural Technical Assistance Units (UMATAS, municipal governments, NGOs, the Coffee Grower Committees, and the National Education Service (SENA).

    Budget and Financing

    The Ministry of Education of Columbia is conducting a long-term program for the development of rural basic education in the country. Part of this program is a project financed with World Bank resources, the first stage of which is being conducted during the period 2001-2003. $40 million will be invested during this period.

    Lessons Learned

  • Administrative issues: The need for integrated organization and management with the contribution of several rural schools to ensure coordination, proper sequence, and continuity in rural basic education (from preschool to ninth grade)
  • Pedagogical issues: The need to design and develop a contextualized curriculum proposal addressing basic learning needs and combining training and productivity processes with the participation of the educational community.
  • School-community relations: Community participation in the various school organizations, educational projects and employment training projects has led to interaction and closer relations in connection with the institutional projects.
  • Employment training projects: The need to obtain the commitment of post-primary centers to a curriculum proposal with objectives combining knowledge with know-how adapted to the local context.

    Future Challenges

  • Administrative issues: Ensuring compatibility between the post-primary modality and the process of school reorganization in the various regions of Colombia and the allocation of program resources at the municipal level.
  • Pedagogical issues: Designing and financing the adaptation of curriculums and educational materials to local and subregional needs.
  • School-community relations: Given the situation of armed conflict in many regions of the country, achieving educational continuity in communities is constantly affected by migration or displacement.
  • Employment training projects: Enriching early education processes and on-the-job teacher training to help develop curriculum proposals covering basic competencies and job skills.

    Responding to the Challenges of the Summit

    Colombia�s Rural Post-primary Program responds to the challenges of Quebec City by providing quality education to disadvantaged groups, specifically in rural areas, equipping them with the tools needed to successfully enter the job market.

    Back to Eje 1