Bogota, June 5, 2020.
86 women and 78 men in the process of reintegration graduate as bachelors in seven areas of Colombia as part of the convention of the Norwegian Council and the Ministry of National Education 'Arando la Educación' which had the accompaniment of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN – Agencia para la Reincorporación y la Normalización - for its acronym in Spanish).
For 9 months ex - combatants of the former Training and Reincorporation Territorial Spaces (ETCR – Espacios Territoriales de Capacitación y Reincorporación - for its acronym in Spanish), their families and inhabitants of the surrounding communities them, developed an educational process by cycles, which allowed them to pursue the basic primary, secondary and middle school achieving their bachelor's degree.
Antioquia, Caquetá, Cesar, Cundinamarca, Guajira, Guaviare, Meta and Tolima are the departments where 164 ex - combatants and 50 people from the community graduate as bachelors, who with the accompaniment of the facilitators of the ARN
and tutors specializing in adult education, managed to complete their studies in these territories during the period 2019 - 2020.
For Andrés Stapper, ARN general director, "ensuring that education reaches remote areas of the country and giving thousands of men and women the chance to access the basic primary and secondary school, so that they are trained and have better life opportunities, it is a sign that the reintegration process is consolidated, day by day".
In total, about 1,374 inhabitants of the 24 former Training and Reincorporation Territorial Spaces received their classes through the six special lesson cycles, in the 2019 – 2020 period, in which 5,352 people from the surrounding communities also participated through the 'Arando la Educación' project.
It is developed through flexible education models for young people and adults to which the population in the process of reintegration have been accessed. The initiative has had an investment of $ 6,634,600,000, of which the Ministry of National Education contributed with $ 3,150,000,000 and the Norwegian Council with $ 3,484,600,000.
Fidel Antonio Sanabria Sierra, one of the graduate students of the former ETCR Miravalle, in San Vicente del Caguán, department of Caquetá, expressed his happiness for having achieved this title and indicated "for me, it is very satisfying to continue projecting myself and to be able to serve the country, through this training and the learning acquired. This is how we contribute to the reincorporation process, because our commitment is with the peace".
The 'Arando la Educación' program seeks the development of actions that contribute to the closure of gaps in access to the education system, also ensuring quality education that allows reconciliation, citizenship training and peace - building.
Interesting Data:
Between 2017 and 2019, 820 ex - combatants have achieved their bachelor's degree, as part of the 'Arando la Educación' project.
As part of the flexible education models implemented by the ARN and aimed at ex - combatants, we can find the Adult Education and Training Model (MEFR – Modelo de Educación y Formación para Adultos - for its acronym in Spanish) and the UNAD model with the "Itinerant Master" strategy.
A total of 6,000 Farc - Ep ex - combatants have entered the Colombian educational system through flexible education models.