More than one hundred people from Latin America meet at the 5th ENA Education Meeting 2019

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This year the University of La Serena hosted the outstanding Our America Meeting, which seeks to revalue education from the origins of each Latin American people.

“Emancipation, decolonization and transformation” was the slogan that promoted the 5th ENA Meeting 2019, an initiative supported in this version by the Rector's Office and which emerged in 2012 in Puerto Rico, under the spirit of rediscovering a transformative education that connects with the essence and roots of each person.

ena 2 1"The initiative seeks to recover the meaning of education, but in a different way, which is not about breaking with tradition, but rather giving it a new reorientation, where our education and schools begin to think more about the family, the environment , in the boy and girl, in what it means to be educated in a community and not only through content in a classroom. That is why this meeting also opens the doors to ethnicities, to sounds, to art, to expression, to emotions, to thought, and to everything that is part of the human being, but that is generally not considered in schools." , highlighted the academic of the Department. From Education, Silvia López de Maturana, who together with the Director of Teaching, Yanola González and Professor Carlos Calvo (former ULS academic), were the promoters of bringing this experience to the facilities of the University of La Serena.

The meeting involved a dedicated organization, which is why members from all over the world, including social representatives, universities, seedbeds, and groups that are fighting for ecology and humanism, participated in the intimate ENA, a space whose purpose was prepare in advance all the activities that would be carried out openly.

ena 3 1For the rest, the meeting considered various spaces for political, academic, social and cultural reflection, called tribes, in which the participants worked on various educational proposals around the three axes of the meeting, which were finally shared in plenary sessions. Recreational activities were also carried out, which were soaked in music and biodance.

“This initiative was very good, above all because we learned about the practices of other countries. It is important to leave traditional education and here we were able to learn several innovative experiences,” said Arthur Frias, a participant from Brazil.

In this way, it is expected to apply the proposals shared through the curriculum, so that we work on transformative, community, supportive teaching that leaves the walls of the classroom. “The idea is to build a combination between science, spirit, cognition and affection, so that the teaching we intend to give is more holistic,” emphasized Professor Silvia.

Previous meetings have already been held in Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Bolivia and Brazil, and the next one will be held in Argentina in alliance with Uruguay. 

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Written by Daniela Ledezma, UGIP