While in Ecuador, my eye was caught by news of students and professors rioting in the capital city of Quito, as well as in the other major urban centers of Guayaquil and Cuenca. After seeing this on the news for days at a time, and then after seeing hundreds of students throwing rocks at police in riot gear in the street just a few blocks from my hotel, I decided it was time to dig a little deeper into what exactly was going on.

Upon further investigation, I learned that the professors and teachers in all major cities and throughout the country were instituting huelgas (or strikes) in reaction to the Ecuadorian president’s new education policy. If I understand things correctly, the new policy requires all professors as well as all teachers to undergo a test to prove their competency. If they passed, they’d be assured their jobs. If not, they’d be given the opportunity to take further classes in order to get “up to snuff”. If teachers were unable to pass the test and unwilling or unable to complete further course work, they would be fired.

Now, from friends and acquaintances in Ecuador, I’ve heard both sides of this debate. Some feel that it’s an affront to the teachers; that they shouldn’t be made to take a test, and that they should just get on with the business of teaching the youth of Ecuador. The (very large) teacher’s organization in Ecuador (La Union National de Educadores) has obviously taken this up as their battle cry and teachers and professors are out in droves, marching in the streets and calling for a renegotiation of the policy.

On the other side of the debate, I’ve heard that many believe that a certain population of teachers and professors within Ecuador (many referred to these teachers as the “old guard” in the education system), who were not only using antiquainted teaching methods and theories, but who don’t fully understand the course material at all. Effectively, not only are there some who are poor teachers, but there are others who are actually teaching things incorrectly to their students. One Ecuadorian I met put a patriotic spin on this side of the debate: “How can our country improve if our teachers aren’t teaching our young people well? We can’t.”

As for the students rioting in the streets, some chalk this up to youthful vim and vigour. They seem to look upon the rioting as youthful mischief that kids are getting into when they have a day off of school due to the strikes. The Teachers’ Union has the opinion that the students are joining the marches and the riots because the policy is unjust and the students are standing on the side of the professors and universities. Others seem to have a darker view of things saying that so many students are proactively joining the riots because if, during the huelgas, a student was to show up for class, the students would be seen as not supporting the professors or the university. The student could be in deep trouble and have a hard time passing their classes from then on if they’re seen as disloyal to the school/teachers.

The conspiracy theories go deeper as well. I’ve also heard (though not been able to get any proof or factual information on this) that some believe that many of the “old guard” professors and teachers are in cahoots with the university administrations. After giving the university top dogs a little kick back, some teachers have been given kushy teaching spots without having to do much work, and that the reason that there is such a big backlash against taking these tests is that the professors wouldn’t be able to pass and their nice/easy job would be taken away and the administrations extra financing would dissapear. The accounting systems in universities have been notorious for their lack of transparency, and this testing of professors is supposedly the first step of many to try to bring light into this area.

The huelgas have now been going on for over a month in Ecuador. If nothing else, this is a month (on and off) of classes that the students have missed. The riots were getting progressively more violent (I saw youths as young as 14 handcuffed in the back of police trucks, and I’ve seen tear gas being shot into crowds of 80+ people) , but recent talks seem to have cooled things down for them moment.

It’s hard to know what is fact and what is fiction, but certainly this single policy issue brings to light the magnitude of grey area which young people must navigate in order to get an education in the developing world. If one is lucky enough to get through school and get into a university, then one must find a way to pay for it. And if one is lucky enough (and works hard enough) to find a way to pay for university, then one must worry about whether or not there will be classes to attend, whether or not the professors will be any good at teaching them the things they need to learn in order to “get ahead”, whether or not their administration will be transparent and bonafide, and whether or not their government will be willing to go bat to make education improvements.

The list goes on and on.

Hello Vittana-ites,

My name is Katie Gruver. Not only am I a long time fan of Vittana, but I’m also very excited to be working with Vittana as its first Vittana Fellow!

Why I’m here

I first fell in love with microfinance about 6 years ago while traveling through the South Pacific. I was on a small and very remote island in the country of Vanuatu (I was there before its Survivor fame). There, I happened to meet a group of women who had formed a cooperative, and pooled their resources to build an enterprise that benefited their entire community (in this case it was a small hostel for travelers).

This was the first time I started to understand what “sustainable” economic development in a community could really look like. It was also the first time I realized the drastic impact that lack of credit or access to financial services had on individuals and communities. Without access to a bank, these women had saved cash for over a year before having enough money to even get started on their project.

When I returned home, I read Muhammad Yunus’ book Banker to the Poor and, like so many before and after me, was hooked. (P.S. Banker to the Poor is required reading in my mind. Go and be inspired by the “Father of Microfinance”!) I spent the next three years working in the field of microfinance and remain a loyal advocate.

Fast-forward a few years, and here I am traveling again — this time to Latin America. Throughout my travels, I’ll meet with Vittana partners and borrowers, and share with you the challenges and successes of our work.

I’m ecstatic to be working with Vittana for the singular reason that they’re taking innovative steps to fill a huge gap.

Microfinance has garnered a huge following (as it well should), especially in the last few years thanks to attention from Omidyar, Gates and the Clinton Global Initiative among others. And yet, there’s still so much more to be done. Student loans are an exciting and innovative way to help young people create the “better life” that every parent dreams for their children.

My Job as a Fellow

As a Vittana Fellow, my job is to be the eyes and ears on the ground not only for the Vittana Team, but also for you. I hope you’ll send me questions you’d like me to ask of our partners and/or borrowers, as well as issues that you’d like me to investigate.

Right now, I’m in Ecuador polishing up my Spanish for a few weeks before heading to Peru to meet with our first partner. In my next few posts, I’ll be talking with some of my new Ecuadorian friends about their educational and financial experiences.

Email me at katieg@vittana.org if you have any questions you’d like me to follow up on!