I’ve seen tech talent recruiters offering their candidates a salary range between $20,000 and $120,000 per year depending on country of origin, experience and area of service. Business people confirm that good technology professionals are overpaid, even outside of Ecuador, receiving higher compensation than professionals in other careers at similar levels. A few days ago, a distinguished teacher called in. There is not a single major in engineering or hard sciences in the top 10. The world does not change in the countryside. Still static. When will there be development?”
Are our young people connected to what the world asks of them? Do the shortcomings of secondary education, technical institutes and universities discourage student aspirations? Are they trapped by short-term survival and avoiding rigorous teaching processes? In the midst of the state of war that Ecuador is experiencing, the search for answers must lead us as a society to close this painful gap between formal Ecuadorian education and the possibility of human and professional fulfillment for its students.
The abilities that students build through the educational units in which they study must make them necessary for the world in which they live. To achieve this, the magnitude of the innovation to be undertaken must go beyond the forms and contents of the existing model. It must shake up roles, means of interaction and, of course, forms and contents. Formal education should be a source of mentoring, learning methodology, decision-making and lifelong training. In addition, it must provide them with soft skills, networking skills and interaction with the environment. Also, enable them to master technological platforms and universal digital environments, master the English language, etc. This, along with indispensable excellence in the content and methods of teaching and learning.
Solving the lack of influence of formal education on the social progress of young people means connecting it with their needs, turning it into a source of knowledge, technology and facilitating the socioeconomic development of companies and people. An effective response to such demands forces educational entities to have capabilities and programs that spread quality and quality education. Having achieved this, it will be part of the power structure of the territory and will effectively influence its socioeconomic development. This goal implies the deconcentration of decisions about the design of content, methodologies and infrastructure, since the local vision of development must be taken into account.
Let the resulting model create new wealth, capable of financing its own innovation. Let the interaction of educational subjects – students – the environment innovate local development and be a source of specialized human resources for production, young fighters of the forces of good, truth and freedom. (OR)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
