The renowned Bolivian educator María-Isabel Ballivián became the focal point of the ceremony to announce maximum support for the United States educational system this Thursday at the White House.
At the event, Vice President Kamala Harris described the work of educators as vital and particularly highlighted the work that early childhood education programs have been developing despite the restrictions and dangers that the COVID-19 pandemic carries.
Ballivián was the personality chosen by the White House to represent the thousands of early childhood education centers in the United States that faced the pandemic thanks to a complex security protocol that allowed them to continue operating under the most demanding circumstances, with The objective of maintaining the service that they offer daily in their communities so that thousands of families of workers can go to their sources of work and thus guarantee the sustenance of their homes.
“From the bottom of my heart, I applaud your efforts to make early childhood education a national priority. If parents and their young children do not have access to quality early education, the path to fully reopening the post-COVID-19 economy becomes much more difficult … High-quality child care depends on early childhood educators, they must be well trained, well compensated and technologically up-to-date to take on the challenge… ”, emphasized Ballivián.
During the event, Vice President Harris assured, in a very emotional way, that as a fundamental part of her policy to face the pandemic, there will be a substantial increase in the annual budget for early childhood education programs, as well as for the United States educational system in general. He said that education is one of the fundamental pillars of the fight against the pandemic and of education in the States
United.
“My mother had two goals in life: raising her two daughters and fighting cancer. And every weekday and many weekends, my mother went to work. And when I did, my sister and I would walk two houses down to the house of Mrs. Regina Shelton who became a second mother to us. She also had a child care center. Without the care that Mrs. Shelton provided us, my mother would not have been able to go to work, without that care my mother would not have been able to make the contributions she made in her effort to find a cure for breast cancer. I say this to highlight a point that is probably obvious to you: for many people and particularly many women, childcare centers have become a prerequisite for being able to work; and for many others, child care centers are their job, ”Harris said, visibly moved.
The Vice Presidency also recalled that the budget for child care centers will benefit from the largest investment in the history of the northern country, reaching a total of 39 billion dollars destined to guarantee their operation by financing materials, payroll and even making possible rehiring.
The Bolivian educator, born in La Paz, trained in Santa Cruz and from a Chuquisacan family, is the Executive Director of the ACCA Child Development Center, a NAEYC-accredited program that serves more than 200 at-risk children in Fairfax County, Virginia. in the U.S.
He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of early childhood education working for various non-profit organizations in the US and other countries. As an innovative educator, senior administrator, trainer, advocate and consultant, she has been working to improve the quality of care and education for young children, in addition to promoting strategies for greater participation of mothers and fathers, and promoting initiatives that strengthen development teaching professional.
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