On April 14, 2021, the highest pedagogical authorities of the Regional Directorate of Education of Loreto (DREL), an institution under the Ministry of Education of Peru, visited the Painkenape community of the Siekopai Nation. The community is settled in their ancestral territory on the northern bank of the Napo River in Peruvian territory, very close to the border with Ecuador.
The authorities from DREL traveled from Iquitos to the community to verify on-site the construction of the community school and the teaching activities carried out by Siekopai teacher Gregorio Vásquez. This was done within the framework of the ministerial resolution of education in Peru, which issued a budget for the establishment of this educational center, and another budget to hire teacher Gregorio Vásquez.
The inhabitants of Painkenape were happy and honored by this visit, which reaffirms and makes practical the right and access to bilingual intercultural education for all indigenous nationalities of Peru.
Painkenape and its inhabitants have worked very hard to have their small school and their teacher in full pedagogical exercise. They have done this hand in hand with the Beyond Lagartococha project, an initiative of Fundación Raíz Ecuador – Caemba, led by dozens of young people from schools in Quito, who for five consecutive years have managed to raise funds to provide food, clothing, educational materials, school construction, Siekopai teacher training, among other activities.
The right to basic services and fundamental rights such as education knows no borders.
