Becas (Scholarships)

In doing away with the matriculation fee that students used to have to pay to go to school, the President of Ecuador has made education ´´free´´ for everyone. In reality, education is a cost that many families in rural areas in Ecuador cannot afford. The government does provide the 4 basic books to every student in Ecuador, in addition to a supply of food for breakfast and lunch for the kids. However, the students who attend Viña del Mar still have to buy 2 uniforms and a list of school materials that they will need throughout the year. This ´´lista´´ presents the greatest cost of attending school in Estero. Many families with multiple students in school or high-school have an extremely difficult time finding the money to pay for all of these materials.

The story changes when the kids in Estero graduate from 7th grade and head to Colegio (high school). MANY students do not continue their education in high school because they cannot afford to pay ´´pasaje´´ which is the daily cost of traveling to and from school. So, in addition to the school uniforms and multiple lists for the different classes in high school, the families now have to find at least $1 a day for pasaje. For the kids in families whose only monthly income IS $30 given to them by the government, Colegio becomes unattainable.

This year, Yanapuma was able to give $250 scholarships to 7 students in Estero who were headed to, or were already in, Colegio. One of my biggest responsibilies in Estero is monitoring the scholarship money, the progress, and the overall well being of these 7 students. Yanapuma wants to be really involved in their entire educational experience, and for this reason, we will be working with the Director and many of their professoras in the high school as well. The general idea is that Yanapuma can continue renewing these scholarships for these 7 students, in addition to awarding more scholarships to other students in the following years.




Here are 5 of the 7 scholarship students. From left to right, Vladimir, Jira, Wendy, Eulalia and Jean Carlos.
These kids are pretty great.