Timbiquí, origin of the modular school plan for rural areas

CAF's President, Sergio Díaz Granados, tells how, following the needs of the Colombian government, he began working with his team to make the goal of bringing quality education to the most remote areas of the country a reality, which in early 2024 had its first success with the delivery to the community of Isla Los Brazos, in the municipality of Timbiquí (Cauca), of the new facilities of the Puerto Saija Ethno-educational Institution.

This population in the southwestern coastal area of the Colombian Pacific, whose transportation and supply routes are the sea and three rivers, was affected at many times in its recent history by Colombia's internal conflict. Now, it is the beneficiary of the modular schools pilot project, aimed at creating a resilient society and closing social gaps.

In this area of Colombia, which is difficult to access, many educational institutions do not have sufficient infrastructure to guarantee quality basic education, optimal school meals and adequate access roads. According to official data, more than 300 classrooms were needed in Timbiquí to correct the existing 50% deficit in educational supply.

The Los Brazos rural school was equipped with three modular classrooms - highly durable and easy-to-assemble structures with drinking water, sanitation and energy supplies -, a dining room, a teachers' room, a battery of bathrooms and a kitchen. In addition, seven existing classrooms were improved, as well as a multi-purpose court and the stilt walkways of the pier that provides access to the school. In total, 440 m² of new infrastructure and more than 400 m² of existing infrastructure were improved.

This ensured 132 children and young people an educational space with more pleasant conditions for their academic development. The investment was 3.6 billion Colombian pesos (COP), about US$900,000 today, and was structured on the basis of an ongoing dialogue with teachers and school administrators, community leaders and the students' families.

The modular school system makes it possible to build first-class educational centers with high quality standards in terms of infrastructure, and contributes to the goal of expanding the coverage of the educational system in all territories.

Díaz Granados described the educational project as "great news for Colombia and Latin America and the Caribbean, as it solves one of the main problems in bringing quality education to the most difficult-to-access areas."

"Taking into account that 46.8% of the country's properties are more than ten hours from the nearest city and 65.4% are more than two hours from the main roads, this project marks a significant advance in equitable access to education," said Rodrigo Peñailillo, CAF's representative in Colombia.

This will be the first of a series of modular schools in Colombia, designed specifically to overcome connectivity barriers in rural areas. Following this pilot test, CAF and the Ministry of Education launched the "Program for the Transformation of Educational Environments and Spaces", which contemplates the intervention in approximately 126,746 m² of rural educational infrastructure, divided into the construction of two new higher education centers (technical, undergraduate, postgraduate) and the improvement of 790 preschool, elementary and middle school educational centers.

The initiative is aligned with the National Development Plan "Colombia, a world power for life," which seeks to increase higher education coverage from 54% to 62% and to increase the higher education transition rate in rural areas from 23% to 26%.

Another of the program's benefits is its focus on gender, inclusion and environmental sustainability, incorporated in the projects to be implemented.

For Peñailillo, the joint participation of the Ministry of Education, CAF and local communities demonstrates the importance of inter-institutional alliances to combat inequalities. "This effort not only focuses on improving educational infrastructure, but also contributes to closing socioeconomic gaps, ensuring that access to education is a universal right, regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic level".