Bill of Law to create the Special Statute of Professionalization for Ethno-educators
- Jairo Rodríguez Davis
- 20 abr
- 4 Min. de lectura
Actualizado: 23 abr
On April 8th, 2025, the national government of Colombia, through the Ministry of Education, presented to the Congress of Colombia a bill for the creation of the Special Statute of Professionalization for Ethno-educators, This bill, which is the result of seven years of collaboration with communities and social organizations, proposes the issuance of the "Special Statute of Professionalization for Ethno-Educator Teachers and Educational Directors in the service of the Colombian State, in development of the autonomy of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera communities, and includes other provisions".
This project underwent a process of prior consultation with representatives of these ethnic peoples (Black, Afrocolombians, Raizal, and Palenquera Communities) It seeks to establish a special regulatory framework that recognizes and values the cultural identity of these ethnic peoples and communities, in the educational field.
¿WHICH IS THE ORIGIN OF BILL OF LAW?
This bill also complies with mandates from the Constitutional Court and the Council of State, which require the creation of a special regime for ethnic educators, within the framework of prior consultation, as has already been done. In its Sentence C-666 of 2016, the Constitutional Court declared that the general Teacher Professionalization Statute is not applicable to these ethnic teachers. Moreover, in Sentence SU-011 of 2018, it urged the government to present a bill to regulate their labor relations, after consultation with the affected communities. Subsequently, in Sentence T-531 of 2020, the Court urged Congress to create legislation specifically regulating ethno-educators. The Council of State also intervened in 2021, annulling certain related decrees and urging Congress to ensure prior consultation.
In compliance with these decisions, the National Government, led by the Ministry of National Education, initiated the prior consultation process in 2017 as ordered by the Constitutional Court. This process involved the National Space for Prior Consultation of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquera communities (ENCP), led by its Commission IV (Commission on Education, Ethnoeducation, Culture, Recreation and Sports), Within the framework of attendance and participation, the process included actors such as the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Department of Public Service (DAFP). This collaboration allowed for the structuring of a bill that considered the voices of the communities, the vision of the national government and the guidalines stated by the Constitutional Court.
¿WHO DOES IT BENEFIT?
This Statute will benefit teachers, school principals, ethno-educators, and ethno-educator counselors who provide services in State educational and ethno-educational establishments to Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera peoples and communities. It also benefits those located in their territories, and individuals who, while not currently ethno-educators, choose to become so, provided they voluntarily adhere to the criteria set forth in the statute.
MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THIS BILL
Some objectives of the bill are:
Establish a special statute for the administration, training, and engagement of ethno-educator teachers and school principals working in public schools, both in collective, ancestral, and/or traditional territories and in urban areas.
Regulate the State's relations with ethno-educators, ensuring that teaching is provided by individuals with a sense of Afro-Colombian ethnic and cultural identity and belonging.
Ensure that ethno-educators are qualified, efficient, and committed to their context, in order to provide quality educational service.
Recognize their training, suitability, experience, performance, and work and social skills as essential attributes for entry, retention, promotion, and retirement from public service..
Promote social and community development and growth through education.
THE MAIN APPROACHES OF THIS BILL
Argues the concept of Ethnoeducation as a system, articulated to the ethnoeducational career.
It is the first and only statute for ethno-educators, teachers and school administrators aimed at Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera peoples and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Guarantees the right to provide education with a differentiated, anti-racist, and intercultural approach in the country.
Establishes principles and rights within the framework of autonomy and the right to education that will govern the ethno-educational career path for Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera peoples and communities.
Highlights the process of linking teachers and school directors within the framework of the right to autonomy respecting the constitutional principle of merit in a special and differential manner. This includes a specific selection process with a comprehensive ethno-educational assessment, ethno-educational experience, a comprehensive ethno-educational interview (considering knowledge of the specific linguistic tradition), and the support of an ethno-educational and intercultural pedagogical project.
Implements a teaching ladder that is distinct from existing ones.
Recognizes special aspects of teacher promotion and relocation.
Includes a formative performance assessment process, ongoing training, certified community social leadership, among others.
Considers specific administrative situations, respecting the sociocultural context of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera peoples and communities.
Strengthens the chair of Afro-Colombian studies.
Creates the Ubuntu Award for Ethnoeducation to recognize the work and performance of ethnoeducators.
Establishes, recognizes, and implements the exchange of experiences in formative assessment processes as a strategic action that connects all teachers and school administrators in the country.
Allows teachers and school principals who provide their services in State educational establishments, as well as those located in the territories of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquera peoples and communities, who are currently linked to these establishments, to avail themselves of the benefits of this law.
Concerning the Raizal People of the Archipelago of San Andres, Providence and Santa Catalina, it is expected that through this bill of law, the linguistic rights of the Raizal people during their educational process will be respected and promoted, and that the Raizal Council (Raizal Authority), in exercise of the right to self-determination and autonomy, will able to have an easier way to enforce special regulations for the upliftment and rights of the raizal teachers, the raizal students, and their own education system.
During these last years, we noticed the way how raizal teachers have being discriminated and displaced in their own territory, many of them not under dignified laboral conditions, in a system of education managed by a detestable politicking, dominated by others.
It may be an opportunity to dignify raizal teachers, guaranteeing a stable and permanent job as teachers in their own territory, and for their own people; as we also make effective the right to education, culturally appropiate, for the raizal kids.
The Raizal Council (Raizal Authority), along with the Raizal Develpment Center Corp. (RDC) will take hold of this situation, and opportunity.
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