Delving into education in Colombia

OK, so this picture has nothing to do with education, but it's not every day you get to pose with a soldier guarding the government buildings in Candelaria (an old, colonial neighborhood in Bogota, home to Parliament, the Presidential Palace, etc.), so I had to post it!

But, on with the topic of the day... today's the first day for us (TGC Fellows) in Colombia. For the next few days we'll be in Bogota, learning about the education system throughout the country. Today we got an overview of the different levels of education in Colombia (primary, middle, secondary, and post-secondary) and then visited UNITEC, a post- secondary school in Bogota. There, we were treated to this special performance by some of their talented performing arts students. Overall I was very impressed with not only the wide variety of programs offered, but by the depth of the offerings. We saw a couple examples of cortometrajes, or short films that students made in UNITEC's film program, and we then had a tour of the high tech equipment and spaces that the students use to make their films. Here's a trailer of one of the cortos that we saw. Enjoy!