POLICY BRIEF article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1654820
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Multilingual Education: Equity, Inclusion, and WellbeingView all articles
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING ETHNOEDUCATION IN COLOMBIA PROBLEM PRESENTATION AND JUSTIFICATION OF ITS RELEVANCE
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Los Andes, Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
- 2Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
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This policy brief examines the challenges and opportunities of ethnoeducation in Colombia, highlighting persistent structural inequalities affecting Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Drawing on critical interculturality, the analysis reveals how current policies often essentialize ethnicity, reproduce educational segregation, and limit genuine dialogue. While acknowledging advances in access and cultural affirmation, the brief critiques the separation of curricula and the exclusion of the dominant society from intercultural education. It proposes systemic reform based on intercultural learning for all, teacher training in minoritized knowledges, community-based curriculum design, and better data systems. Emphasis is placed on decolonizing education to dismantle racial hierarchies and foster mutual learning. The brief concludes with a phased roadmap for reform, recognizing political resistance while positioning interculturality as a shared national responsibility.
Keywords: Ethnoeducation, Critical interculturality, Educational Inequality, decolonizing education, educational policy reform, Structural Racism, intercultural curriculum
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 19 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Balán. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Laura Balán, University of Los Andes, Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
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