According to statistics, this was education until 2005 in Ecuador.
The national average of schooling was no more than 6 years old.
Six out of 10 children could attend high school,
and even less finish it.
The budget allocated to education
was less than one third than what other countries in the region,
like Chile, destined to the same area.
As you will see, we had on the one hand,
a serious problem of access to education,
there were not enough schools for the children to attend.
Painfully, until before that year, some parents said:
"I already gave you elementary school," a tremendously painful expression
they pointed to the impossibility of access to high school.
Whether because there were not enough schools,
or because they didn't have money enough to send them.
Yes, you heard well: enough money,
and I'm talking about public school,
because until that time the school had virtually become privatized:
a contribution was charged, wrongly labelled as "voluntary".
And we all know what that means:
that if that contribution is not made the kids could not go to school.
On the other hand, we also had a serious problem
in the quality of learning; the children who could make it
to school didn't learn enough,
They didn't learn what was necessary.
At that moment, according to studies in the region,
Ecuador was practically not even on the list
of countries that achieved better quality in those learnings.
That same 2005, I was principal of a school
and I was happy in that school.
At that time, in December, I received a phone call:
an old friend called me to tell me
they had asked him to be Minister of Education
and he, in turn, called to ask me to be the Vice Minister of Education.
I was so happy at school at that moment
that I answered no, it was my first reaction.
Also, I'll be very honest,
I knew almost nothing about public policy.
And, in addition, before 2005
Ecuador experienced such a political, social and economic instability
that none of the presidents that was elected in that period could finish.
In that context, to join to a team of people
that wanted to transform the education system,
and to transform it long term, didn't look like a good idea.
But I hang up and I thought about it:
I always thought that there is nothing so important
in people's life like education.
So, against common sense, I accepted.
And I joined that team, a multidisciplinary team,
a wonderful team, that started thinking
how we could transform education.
And we traveled the country, and we talked to a lot of people.
We opened debate meetings, until we could identify
eight points that worried people to a great extent.
And with those eight points we built an education plan
that we wanted to stand the test of time.
Then the next question was:
How were we going to make it stand,
facing this political instability?
We came up with an idea, and that was a referendum,
so we move this concern and we achieved that the same year
in which we would elect new President,
an additional ballot would be included
in which you could vote for the 10 Year Education Plan,
this ten-year plan.
So when you went to vote you had a ballot
in which you voted for president
and a ballot in which you voted for the 10 Year Education Plan.
In addition, we visited each candidate and we ask them that,
if the plan was elected,
with the approval of the people, they made it their own plan
and make it happen, because, if people voted for it,
it would be mandatory.
On November 26, 2006, the 10 Year Education Plan
was approved in Ecuador.
Our mission was over, all that wonderful team
could go home and leave with the satisfaction
of a mission accomplished,
the goals they have come together for.
However, at that time,
something absolutely unexpected happened:
the President elect called the minister
and asked him and the team to stay,
to carry out the plan.
You know, that moment a dream comes true?
Well, this was it, we had fulfilled a dream.
We were going to carry out the plan.
And so it was, the team stayed and I was vice minister until 2010,
year in which I agreed to be minister until 2013.
They were years of intense work, very intense, very committed.
And this is not my story,
nor is the story of a small group of people,
it's the history of a country that decided to push
a transformation in education.
What happened during all those years?
Well, the story isn't conflict-free.
Of course there are always oppositions,
and in fact there were.
There were strikes, trials, threats.
Because when you really go for a transformation,
you touch resistances, powers, the power of some and others,
the spheres of influence of some and others.
But beyond that, with joy
and with the support of the majority of people
we could transform education.
You will ask, "what happened?"
Let me tell you:
Education was again free in all levels and modalities.
97 percent of the children in the right age
could make it to high school
and around 75 percent can finish it today.
Of course, as you will see, there's still a long way to go for the country.
The schools could be repaired,
could be equipped,
to have sports courts, laboratories.
Teachers who didn't have any training,
who didn't have a professional development as a teacher,
they could have it, their salaries were recomposed.
On top of that we achieved an additional participation
in the State budget:
the budget in education was tripled.
(Applause)
And with all this we had three great lessons to learn,
which are three very important lessons.
The first one is that
a transformation in education is possible in Latin America.
It can be achieved, it can be done,
we don't have to travel a lot or go far away
to find recipes in other parts of the world.
Transformations are achieved and they can be done in Latin America.
The second lesson we learned is that those transformations
are possible only if they are perceived as systemic,
that is, that must be carried out in all parts of the system,
not to isolated parts of the system.
And to explain myself better:
sometimes we think that the transformation in education
happens when you change the curricula,
sometimes we think that it's about having new books
but, in reality, the transformation occurs when we don't leave
any of the gears of the education system
untouched.
All those that move, rotate,
give life to the next gear, they are the ones that produce
a transformation in education.
A law is very important,
but if that law doesn't later translate into the curricula,
if the study plans don't impact in the initial training of teachers,
if those teachers don't receive training,
if we don't equip the fifth grade laboratory with what is needed
for natural sciences,
all this remains simply on paper.
(Applause)
These eight points that we identified
to make the 10-Year Education Plan
referred to everything I just told you.
The first four points were the levels of learning:
kindergarten, primary school, high school and the incorporation
of those adults who didn't finish their education.
The fifth, the need to have the necessary and sufficient infrastructure
to be able to accommodate all the children
who would like to be and need to be in school.
The sixth, perhaps the most complicated,
is to improve the quality of learning.
The seventh, those that make possible this way, the teachers, right?
The ones central to the process.
And the eighth was money.
With the approved plan, with the plan carried forward,
the transformation in education occurred and is underway,
it still goes on today and hopefully for the next ten years
Ecuador keeps talking about education, in order to criticize it, to improve it,
to reactivate it, to make it every time the most important.
Because I want you to go with this idea:
there's never going to be anything more important
and transformative to both the life of a person and a society
than education.
Yes, of course it's like that,
but also think about it,
it's the only thing that will set them truly free.
Thank you.
(Applause)