La educación Intercultural Bilingue en el Ecuador

Abstract

Although knowledge is communal property, wisdom generally, has been reserved only for some. The formation of the members of the society and their productive competencies had a place in the same community. In the middle of the XX century, in Ecuador, the indigenous carried out educational processes in illegal schools to teach their people. In this period the indigenous struggle is understood since they have been marginalized from education, in this struggle, all elements that have allowed humans to be educated in their intercultural environment. This original people’s oral tradition show that knowledge was transmitted according to the cosmovision of each community. The indigenous education was an intercultural education that each community shared. They shared experiences through the exchange of goods, clothing, or even the language which was the means for these interactions. Although we were independent, and the republic was created with the first constitution in 1830 in Riobamba. From 1833 with Juan José Flores, there was a try to open schools for indigenous children,however, this project failed. Garcia Moreno’s government, opposite to the other presidents, invested a lot of money in public education. After the Alfarista revolution, the state finally created a national and democratic system of education. Although the Ecuadorian people characterizes for a huge cultural richness, the education that has been offered to the indigenous people has aimed to have an uncontrollable assimilation. The cultural richness that Ecuador has, has not been considered in all it dimension regarding ancestral knowledge. Indigenous people have been able to improve in this marginalization of knowledge that is not shared with the people. The positive changes of an educational revolution have been done by the poor and excluded sectors who have fought for their rights and access to a bilingual education. Bilingual education is a challenge for Ecuador because of the low budget and restrictive social policies.