Espacio Educativo ProFuturo in Quito, Ecuador, was created to promote a digital education experience thanks to the confluence of the content of our education solution with diverse samples of digital art and culture. The presentation of this initiative, at the end of June, included the presence of members of the Fundación Telefónica Movistar Ecuador and “la Caixa”. Access to the space will be free-of-charge, and the activities are targeted at boys and girls in elementary school grades 2 and 7.

In the Espacio Educativo ProFuturo in Quito, digital educational activities will be performed free-of-charge, and are targeted at boys and girls in elementary school grades 2 and 7. There will also be workshops and conferences on innovative methods to encourage dialogue among teachers and education professionals.

The opening ceremony took place on 27 June and, under the topic “Educational innovation within the context of digital transformation”, experts from the Universidad Simón Bolivar, the Ministry of Education and other digital education professionals came together for a brief seminar during which they exchanged various points-of-view regarding the trends that provide education in that country with technological and methodological benefits. Furthermore, 25 boys and girls from 3rd grade in the Fiscomisional Marcelino Champagnat school participated in a 30-minute demonstration class.

To reduce the education and gender gap

The opening event was attended by the Under-secretary for Educational Innovation and Well-being of the Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Diego Paz Enríquez; the Director of Finances and Control of ProFuturo global, Blanca Meléndez; the Legal Vice President of Telefónica Ecuador, Andrés Donoso, and the Director of the Fundación Telefónica Ecuador, María Augusta Proaño, who explained that the aim for the year underway is the participation in this new space by 2,400 boys and girls and 300 teachers.

Diego Paz also recalled that the education and gender gaps in Ecuador are extreme: “The reduction of education and gender gaps is a formidable challenge that we face in the education sector, and one that Ecuador cannot resolve on its own. It requires the cooperation of foundations and organisations such as yours, with the knowledge, the know-how and individuals from whom we may learn in order to generate new and improved practices”.

Lastly, Andrés Donoso stressed the need for universal accessibility to the possibilities provided by technology: “In this way we may live better, do more, be more. Bringing technology to people is the responsibility of all, and in Telefónica we claim it as our own”, he added.