Winter and an earthquake affect the start of the school year on the coast of Ecuador

According to the head of UNE in Guayas, Hilario Beltrán, the educational units on the coast are the hardest hit by the winter and the March 18 earthquake.

Beltran warned that students there won’t be able to return to classrooms because parents don’t have the resources for a virtual distance or method.

The Ecuadorian official confirmed, in statements to local media, that the heavy rains in recent weeks in the country located in the Andes Mountains, exacerbated the conditions of educational institutions in cantons such as Milagro, Yaguache, Colemis, and Saliter.

Beltran explained that floods are preventing teachers from reaching schools, but warned that these teaching units have not had maintenance since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Because of this scenario, many UNE leaders will stage a sit-in on Monday at the Undersecretariat of Education in Guayas to demand the authorization of resources for the repair and maintenance of educational centers.

In the same way, the teachers of the coastal region of the Andean country will make other demands related to the educational process such as the provision of equipment for demonstration classes, EU member Jorge Escala told El Comercio.

By the way, Escala announced that the workers of this sector there will mobilize with these demands on May 1st.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Education arranged on Monday for the start of classes for the 2023-2024 school year in the fiscal (public) schools of the Costa Galapagos system, although the process will be phased due to the effects mostly from educational institutions in that region, officials have alerted.

m/nta