Sector Publico

" TO EDUCATE A CHILD THE WHOLE TRIBE IS NEEDED "

Government , employers and experts discussed the best strategies to improve early childhood education . Partnerships between the public and private sector will be key to shoot quality.

Samuel Azout presidential exconsejero and forum moderator "Challenges of education : now or never" , organized by The Spectator and the Barefoot Foundation , recalled an African proverb that summarizes shared by experts, entrepreneurs and government representatives who participated thought in the discussion : " to educate a child the whole tribe is needed."

During the forum, which was held yesterday in Cartagena, Patricia Sierra , executive director of the Barefoot Foundation , stated that Colombia is overdiagnosed as to the problems facing the education sector and is therefore time to take action and join forces . Education Minister Maria Fernanda Campo, agreed with her and said that the strategy is clear for Colombia to improve the quality of education being taught at home . While acknowledging that the Pisa tests show that Colombia is well behind other countries , recalled that the fruits of education policies can only be seen in the medium and long term.

" There is something that transforms the competitiveness of a country 's education," said the minister to employers in Cartagena and invited them to continue working together. Representatives of the business sector as Carlos Giraldo, P &G; Silvia Escobar, Terpel , Julian Santos, Exxon Mobil , Alejandro Jimenez, Pacific Rubiales , Oscar Villadiego, Ecopetrol ; Manuel Kornprobst , Nestle , and David Gonzalez, Intel, referred to the priority of education within their social responsibility policies and discussed some of the programs that have been implemented in the towns and regions where they work.

For example , Silvia Escobar noted that 10 years ago , when he began working Terpel for education , understood that there was nothing to be invented, just that their efforts should be focused on " implementing useful things ." He added that "relations between the private sector and the public will always be complementary, but the responsibility for the education of the new generations is the country and the state."

Alejandro Jimenez , meanwhile , noted that Pacific Rubiales is clear that it must focus on education of children today live in the regions where they work , because it is they who will want to hire in a decade or two if there continues to operate .

Raquel Bernal, education expert at the University of the Andes, said that through various assessments for projects that are already underway in Colombia , have concluded that the rates of return on investments in programs for children under five is three times higher than in other education programs , such as the vocational training or higher education.

One of the international guests

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