The government of President Gustavo Petro has agreed that one of the main goals of his administration is to increase the physical plant and the academic offering for the different areas of the country.
In the last few hours, the government managed to sign an agreement for 80 million dollars for the improvement of educational stations and for the construction of two new universities in the Caribbean and in the Colombian Pacific. The agreement will be developed by the national government, the Ministry of Education and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF).
These investments aim to provide top-quality education from early childhood to higher education and to support the work carried out with monitoring and control processes at each of the new locations.
Daniel Rojas Medellín, Minister of Education, together with the president of CAF, Sergio Díaz, sealed the agreement that seeks to benefit more than 86,000 students distributed in different locations throughout the country.
“The first message I want to convey to you, students of the San José Departmental Educational Institution, is that rights are demanded, not begged for. You must demand that public servants guarantee your rights, since we are here to serve you. The objective of education must be to stir up freedom so that you can be whoever you want to be. To achieve this, you deserve decent spaces because as young people, boys and girls, you are the ones who will contribute to the growth and development of the country, and will contribute to achieving peace,” said the minister.
The next step to be taken will be to find the populations where there is a greater urgency in the issues of lack of higher education centers or necessary reforms for the continuation of academic work in primary and secondary institutions.
Regarding construction works, the ministry indicated that 126,000 square meters will be worked on, which will be distributed among the renovation of 790 basic and secondary preschool educational facilities.
For his part, the executive president of CAF, Sergio Díaz Granados, said that “The pandemic severely impacted the learning of our children, especially during 2020 and 2021. Given this situation, it was necessary to increase investment in education, both in quality and coverage. That is why today we are taking an important step with the signing of this contract, which will allocate 80 million dollars to improve education at the preschool, primary, secondary and higher levels throughout the country, with a special focus on the most vulnerable areas, to combat the inequality that has affected us for these 200 years.”
The Ministry of Education expects to announce new economic agreements to develop the different programs that aim to strengthen this sector of the nation. Gustavo Petro seeks to meet the objectives in this portfolio by 2026.
