In the Amazon region of Ecuador, poverty, environmental degradation and poor quality of public education are all inextricably linked. Thirty percent of elementary school children in the Amazon region do not finish the 6th grade. Only 15% finish secondary schooling. Students drop out because they feel the current public education available in their remote communities is impractical and irrelevant to their everyday lives. To address these issues, in October 2005, the Yachana Foundation opened the Yachana Technical High School to benefit high school-age indigenous and mestizo students who live in remote rural communities in Ecuador's Amazon region. Meaningful education is the key to reversing generations of poverty, raising environmental awareness and ensuring the sustainable use of the region's natural resources. With the proper preparation, Amazon youth can become good stewards of their land, leaders within their communities and ambassadors for the Amazon. They can learn how to be successful entrepreneurs, gain the tools to improve their standard of living, and create environmentally sound employment possibilities in the rainforest.
The Yachana High School is a non-traditional technical school providing a practical and relevant experiential learning approach. It is forging a new generation of green leaders and entrepreneurs and is sparking students' interest and desire to continue their education. The program is promoting conservation of the Amazon's biodiversity through teaching sustainable use of natural resources, providing professional skills to improve employability, and mentoring management of student-run ecological enterprises. Subjects include eco-tourism, sustainable agriculture, forest and wildlife management and environmentally sustainable micro-enterprises. While the education is relevant and practical, there is still the problem of a digital divide between the rural Amazon students and the rest of the world. In early 2006, the Yachana High School internet center began to operate. Equipped with a 2,000 watt solar array and an innovative hydroelectric system, high speed satellite communication and the latest in solar powered wireless mesh-box repeater technology, the internet center is providing an opportunity for the students of the high school to have access to information and to communicate with students and others throughout the world. The Foundation is constantly looking for solutions to problems we incur living and working in the rainforest environment. Therefore, we developed the Yachana E2 solid state computer. This little CPU only uses 8 watts of power and has no moving parts. All the compute is made up of component parts so if any part dies, it can be replaced and you don't loose the entire computer. 20 of these computers are in operation for the students.
Young people from the Amazon region of Ecuador have traditionally learned by "doing", not sitting in classrooms. The Yachana Foundation is providing an extensive "campus" of 4,300 acres (1,700 hectares) of land and infrastructure worth 1.3 million dollars for the students to use in this learning process. Yachana High School students learn by being actively involved in all aspects of the Foundation's ongoing development and eco-tourism projects. The approach is different because the Yachana Foundation and Yachana Lodge are giving students access and participation in adult level operations, financial management, dealing with tourists, training in accounting, and participation with visiting international students and volunteers. An innovative scheduling divides the students into two groups in a residential setting, each group present for 28 days that reflects the realities of the region. The high school runs for 365 days per year.
One of the unique features of the Yachana High School is that its operation is designed to be as close to self-sustaining as possible. Initially, large sums of support are needed for salaries, operations and the construction of infrastructure. Our goal is to have the school self-sustaining in a short period of time. Our innovative combination of support from Yachana Lodge, Yachana Gourmet and micro-enterprises run by the students, will ensure this goal in a few years.
