National Museum

Education

In Ecuador, as elsewhere in Hispanic America, the Catholic Church histori­cally provided education. But in keeping with late nineteenth-century trends across Latin America, Ecuadorian liberals enacted a series of anti­clerical reforms that included secularizing education, beginning in 1895. Education reform was placed in Ecuador's constitution of 1906; a law requiring secular education. Liberal Presidents oversaw the development of many state-sponsored secondary schools, normal schools, and night schools for workers and increased funding for the universities. The literacy rate for Ecuador for those 15 and older is around 85%. There are still many indigenous tribes in Ecuador where education has not yet reached.


Ecuador had many types of schools, nearly all segregated by gender. Most schools require the wearing of uniforms as well. There were five categories of elementary schools: fiscales, funded mainly by the national government; municipales, city schools funded with city revenues; part icuüires, private schools; beneficencüis, charity schools operated first by the Church and later by the Junta de Beneficencia; and night schools run by ar­tisan mutual-aid societies and sometimes supported with grants from the na­tional or local government. After elementary school, most students attend cole­gios, or high schools. Most colegios are private vocational or trade schools; however, students that show promise attend pre-college high school.