Versión Español
The scholastic indoctrination of the era of “Socialism of the 21st century” in Ecuadorian schools is over. Starting in September the official textbooks issued under the government of Rafael Correa will be replaced.
“They contain errors, and there is the repetitive concept of highlighting the great leader and the great revolution,” explains the current Minister of Education, Milton Luna.
Under the government of Rafael Correa, it became the prevailing teaching that “democracy was born on the 30S (30th of September).” For years, it was not taught that it was born in Greece, with the ancient civilizations, but that the “Citizen Revolution” was so significant for the history of the country, that it gave birth to democracy.
The 30S commemorates September 30, 2010, the date on which the police and the army of Ecuador clashed after a police protest. All the television channels, except the state channel, were closed and the only version reported was the official one: there was a coup d’état and the president was kidnapped.
But the evidence indicates that he was in the police hospital to protect his health and physical integrity and as such invalidates the narrative of the coup d’état.
To date, many have been jailed and exiled for having participated in the alleged coup, facing the maximum penalty of treason, including one accused of the crime of “applauding.”
Even educational leaders that have been candidates for the Socialist Party, such as the historian Enrique Ayala Mora, a teacher at FLACSO, have criticized how the texts created under the government of Rafael Correa demonstrate severe bias. Now, it turns out that they were not only partisan and biased, but contained flat out lies.
In a statement to the local press, the professor denounced that under the government of Correa, publishers praised the regime in order to guarantee lucrative contracts with the state.
The regime vetoed any publication that was not in line with Correa’s ideology, and gave preferential treatment to those who shared Correa’s socialist worldview.
Now the current regime is arguing that there must be a “diversification”, not only in the textbooks, but also in the teaching, so that the students are not indoctrinated with one sole worldview or perspective.
Currently, many students graduate without job training, while “they also do not have orientation for another type of training.”
SR Radio of southern Ecuador, argues that the textbooks seek to represent Rafael Correa “as one of the greatest presidents that Ecuador has had” and cite “a lot of benefits that our country has supposedly enjoyed from the revolution.”
“Even such figures as (Hugo) Chávez and (Fidel) Castro are idealized; two dictators who have trampled on fundamental rights, including the orchestration of forced disappearances and deaths of many of their opponents,” it stated.
The media outlet adds that “they never (respected) the Republic, it was simply a monarchy under the auspices of Socialism of the 21st Century in Ecuador.”
“Knowledge is the worst enemy of populism, knowledge is the worst enemy of a dictatorship, even a monarchy, but there are directors of unions such as the National Union of Educators, the organization that was formed during government of Correa, and teachers both in the public and private education systems, who are not paying attention to critically assessing the ideological bias that was being inculcated in impressionable young Ecuadorian minds,” they conclude.
“They seek to trap, indoctrinate, and manipulate the thinking of Ecuadorian youth,” says the Minister of Education on books sold to private establishments and given to state schools.
According to the Undersecretary of Education, José Brito, in September the educational plan called New School comes into effect, which seeks to prepare students for the current world and adapt education to their abilities, contrary to what happened under the tenure of Correa.
This represents a further action on the part of the administration of President Lenin Moreno, who was vice president under Correa, to distance himself from the regional project of 21st century socialism.
