Training
Ecuador officially has a compulsory and free six-year
elementary school for ages 6-14. In practice, schooling
becomes very sporadic for many children. Some quit already
after a year to help with the family's livelihood, and only
a minor part of the school attend the school. Many students
also fail in the rigid exam system. School conditions are
significantly worse in rural areas than in cities. Check topschoolsintheusa for test centers of ACT, SAT, and GRE as well high schools in the country of Ecuador.
Of the adult population, one in ten residents is
illiterate. There is some adult education, and conscripts
are taught in school subjects if necessary. The Catholic
Church runs a number of schools and colleges. This has
contributed to the training of more doctors and lawyers than
technicians at university level. There are six autonomous
public universities and a dozen technical colleges in the
country. Most significant are the universities of Quito and
Guayaquil. There are also a number of private universities,
including some Catholic.
Colombia in March 2008 attacked Ecuador militarily. It
was a needle-stick operation in Ecuador to destroy a
partisan camp that had been identified with US assistance.
The attack led Ecuador to mobilize and sever diplomatic
relations with Colombia. Venezuela and Nicaragua also
disconnected from the rogue stateColombia, and only a few
months later, relations were resumed when Colombia had
apologized and declared that it would not repeat itself. The
crisis and the US intervention in the attack on Ecuador led
the Ecuadorian parliament in March 2008 to decide to close
all foreign military installation in Ecuador. The move
unilaterally targeted the United States for its support of
the attack on Ecuador. In July 2009, the last North American
soldiers left the Manta naval base, from which the United
States had taken numerous actions in the previous 10 years
to intercept drug traffic. Instead, the superpower entered
into an agreement with Colombia to use 7 of this country's
military bases - with the aim of intimidating the other
countries in the region. The move was met with strong
protests from Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela.
In September 2008, the country's new constitution was
passed by a referendum with 69.5% of the vote. Firstly, the
new constitution included environmental rights. The new
constitution also stated that Ecuador cannot give
sovereignty over private trade to international
organizations. Finally, the new constitution for marriage
between persons of the same sex opened.
Following the adoption of a new constitution, elections
were held in April 2009 for parliament and for the
presidency. Correa already won the presidential post in the
first round of elections with 52% of the vote. His party,
the PAIS Alliance, became the largest in Parliament with 59
seats out of 124. Few seats from having an absolute
majority.
Also in April, the finance minister traveled to Europe to
try to buy Ecuador's government bonds at 30% of their value.
It succeeded extensively. In May, the state announced that
it had purchased 91% of government bonds at 35% of their
face value.
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