The first meeting of the Indigenous Advisory Council of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) was held on Wednesday.
This is the first time in 24 years and the aim is to open the dialogue table to determine what the issues to be addressed in the indigenous population are and their needs within the education system.
Representatives of 24 indigenous territories from all over the country participated.
One the topics addressed was the implementation of the subsystem of indigenous education, which is on paper but has not been possible to materialize.
Hugo Lázaro, community representative from Rey Curré, commented that they also expect to discuss financial and administrative aspects.
We do not come to ask for limited resources, but to influence national policy… We now want to establish at least three priorities, including the validity of the indigenous education subsystem, great efforts have been made to make it come to life, but there are many obstacles,”
said Lázaro.
Another priority is the need to adapt their representation in the institutions.
Alicia Vargas, Deputy Minister of Education, commented that this is a meeting of great importance because although the issues addressed are not mandatory, they allow authorities to know the needs of these communities.
We are going to discuss issues that have to do with education, the importance of respecting the cosmogony of these peoples and their worldview. There are goals that we have in the National Development Plan, which contemplates the development of indigenous peoples and the respect they deserve in the education system. We are going to do a rendering of accounts on how we have been working, “
said Vargas.