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According to statistics, this was
education until 2005 in Ecuador.

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The national average of schooling
was no more than 6 years old.

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Six out of 10 children
could attend high school,

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and even less finish it.

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The budget allocated to education

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was less than one third
than what other countries in the region,

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like Chile, destined to the same area.

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As you will see, we had on the one hand,

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a serious problem of access to education,

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there were not enough schools
for the children to attend.

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Painfully, until before that year, 
some parents said:

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"I already gave you elementary school,"
a tremendously painful expression

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they pointed to the impossibility
of access to high school.

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Whether because there were 
not enough schools,

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or because they didn't have
money enough to send them.

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Yes, you heard well: enough money,

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and I'm talking about public school,

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because until that time the school
had virtually become privatized:

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a contribution was charged,
wrongly labelled as "voluntary".

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And we all know what that means:

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that if that contribution is not made
the kids could not go to school.

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On the other hand, we also had
a serious problem

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in the quality of learning;
the children who could make it

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to school didn't learn enough,

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They didn't learn what was necessary.

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At that moment, according to
studies in the region,

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Ecuador was practically
not even on the list

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of countries that achieved
better quality in those learnings.

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That same 2005, I was principal of a school

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and I was happy in that school.

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At that time, in December,
I received a phone call:

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an old friend called me to tell me

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they had asked him to be
Minister of Education

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and he, in turn, called to ask me
to be the Vice Minister of Education.

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I was so happy at school at that moment

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that I answered no,
it was my first reaction.

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Also, I'll be very honest,

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I knew almost nothing about public policy.

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And, in addition, before 2005

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Ecuador experienced such a political,
social and economic instability

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that none of the presidents that
was elected in that period could finish.

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In that context, to join
to a team of people

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that wanted to transform
the education system,

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and to transform it long term,
didn't look like a good idea.

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But I hang up and I thought about it:

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I always thought that there is
nothing so important

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in people's life like education.

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So, against common sense, I accepted.

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And I joined that team,
a multidisciplinary team,

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a wonderful team, that started thinking

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how we could transform education.

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And we traveled the country,
and we talked to a lot of people.

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We opened debate meetings,
until we could identify

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eight points that worried
people to a great extent.

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And with those eight points
we built an education plan

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that we wanted to stand the test of time.

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Then the next question was:

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How were we going to make it stand,

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facing this political instability?

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We came up with an idea,
and that was a referendum,

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so we move this concern and 
we achieved that the same year

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in which we would elect new President,

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an additional ballot would be included

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in which you could vote for
the 10 Year Education Plan,

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this ten-year plan.

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So when you went to vote you had a ballot

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in which you voted for president

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and a ballot in which you voted
for the 10 Year Education Plan.

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In addition, we visited each candidate
and we ask them that,

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if the plan was elected,

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with the approval of the people,
they made it their own plan

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and make it happen, because,
if people voted for it,

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it would be mandatory.

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On November 26, 2006,
the 10 Year Education Plan

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was approved in Ecuador.

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Our mission was over,
all that wonderful team

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could go home and leave
with the satisfaction

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of a mission accomplished,

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the goals they have come together for.

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However, at that time,

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something absolutely unexpected happened:

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the President elect called the minister

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and asked him and the team to stay,

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to carry out the plan.

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You know, that moment a dream comes true?

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Well, this was it, 
we had fulfilled a dream.

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We were going to carry out the plan.

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And so it was, the team stayed
and I was vice minister until 2010,

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year in which I agreed to be
minister until 2013.

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They were years of intense work,
very intense, very committed.

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And this is not my story,

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nor is the story of
a small group of people,

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it's the history of a country
that decided to push

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a transformation in education.

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What happened during all those years?

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Well, the story isn't conflict-free.

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Of course there are always oppositions,

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and in fact there were.

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There were strikes, trials, threats.

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Because when you really go
for a transformation,

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you touch resistances, powers,
the power of some and others,

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the spheres of influence
of some and others.

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But beyond that, with joy

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and with the support of
the majority of people

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we could transform education.

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You will ask, "what happened?"

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Let me tell you:

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Education was again free
in all levels and modalities.

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97 percent of the children 
in the right age

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could make it to high school

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and around 75 percent can finish it today.

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Of course, as you will see, there's still
a long way to go for the country.

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The schools could be repaired,

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could be equipped,

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to have sports courts, laboratories.

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Teachers who didn't have any training,

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who didn't have a professional
development as a teacher,

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they could have it, their salaries
were recomposed.

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On top of that we achieved
an additional participation

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in the State budget:

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the budget in education was tripled.

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(Applause)

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And with all this we had three
great lessons to learn,

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which are three very important lessons.

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The first one is that

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a transformation in education
is possible in Latin America.

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It can be achieved, it can be done,

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we don't have to travel a lot 
or go far away

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to find recipes 
in other parts of the world.

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Transformations are achieved and 
they can be done in Latin America.

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The second lesson we learned
is that those transformations

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are possible only if
they are perceived as systemic,

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that is, that must be carried out
in all parts of the system,

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not to isolated parts of the system.

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And to explain myself better:

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sometimes we think that
the transformation in education

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happens when you change the curricula,

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sometimes we think that
it's about having new books

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but, in reality, the transformation
occurs when we don't leave

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any of the gears of the education system

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untouched.

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All those that move, rotate,

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give life to the next gear, 
they are the ones that produce

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a transformation in education.

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A law is very important,

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but if that law doesn't later translate
into the curricula,

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if the study plans don't impact
in the initial training of teachers,

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if those teachers don't receive training,

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if we don't equip the fifth grade laboratory
with what is needed

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for natural sciences,

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all this remains simply on paper.

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(Applause)

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These eight points that we identified

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to make the 10-Year Education Plan

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referred to everything I just told you.

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The first four points
were the levels of learning:

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kindergarten, primary school,
high school and the incorporation

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of those adults who didn't finish
their education.

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The fifth, the need to have the necessary
and sufficient infrastructure

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to be able to accommodate all the children

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who would like to be and
need to be in school.

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The sixth, perhaps the most complicated,

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is to improve the quality of learning.

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The seventh, those that make possible
this way, the teachers, right?

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The ones central to the process.

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And the eighth was money.

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With the approved plan,
with the plan carried forward,

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the transformation in education
occurred and is underway,

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it still goes on today and hopefully
for the next ten years

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Ecuador keeps talking about education,
in order to criticize it, to improve it,

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to reactivate it, to make it
every time the most important.

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Because I want you
to go with this idea:

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there's never going to be
anything more important

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and transformative to both
the life of a person and a society

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than education.

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Yes, of course it's like that,

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but also think about it,

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it's the only thing that
will set them truly free.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)