Ombudsman's Office calls for urgent measures to address the education emergency in Norte de Santander

This Wednesday, March 29, the Ombudsman's Office warned about the educational emergency that is taking place in the border department of Norte de Santander in which more than 12,700 minors have not started their school period due to the lack of appointments in the teaching and administrative staff of educational institutions.

According to the entity, this serious situation is the result of the overflow of institutional capacity, the migration crisis and the increase in victimizing events, especially in the troubled Catatumbo region, in Cucuta and the metropolitan area, some of the towns most affected by the armed conflict in the country.

“This situation violates the rights of children and adolescents, due to barriers to access, permanence and quality in the education system. Education is fundamental to the development and full enjoyment of the rights of minors and the State must do everything possible to ensure that educational institutions are safe and provide their services on a continuous basis,” warned the Office of the Ombudsman.

They also indicated that one of the main causes of this emergency is the lack of appointments, which has been denounced by the educational institutions in the department and the Department of Departmental Education in the middle of the Emergency Education Board, which poses a risk to the increase in school dropouts, especially in children and adolescents who have not started their school year despite the fact that they will be completed three months after the beginning of the year.

Likewise, he warned that this emergency is worsening in the refugee and migrant population, as a result of the irregular situation of 35,368 Venezuelan minors in the departmental and municipal Integrated Enrolment System (SIMAT) in Cúcuta, which adds to the precarious and insufficient educational infrastructure, the lack of adaptation for prevention of covid-19, institutions with disabled degrees and the low vaccination scheme for students.

“The Office of the Ombudsman urges the entities of the national order, the Ministry of Education, ICBF, Migration Colombia and the Ministry of Health, to effectively support the Departmental and Municipal Secretariats of Education to guarantee the right to education of children and adolescents in rural and urban areas, having in mind that school is a protective environment that prevents the scourge of forced recruitment, use and use, child labor,” said the entity.

At the same time, it warns of delays in the start of the School Feeding Programme (PAE) and the school transport service that affects more than 78,000 children and adolescents, especially in the capital, while warning about the lack of adequate school transport, which has been evidenced in rural areas in that minors have to hang from vans to get to their schools.

Finally, he called on departmental and municipal institutions to adopt effective measures to overcome this crisis that is taking place in the face of educational problems, with the aim of prioritizing resources that guarantee access, permanence and educational quality for minors in Norte de Santander.

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