Agricultural education in the department of Nariño: a look at its history and the present

Abstract

The influence of education and the importance of the agricultural sector inspired this historic-hermeneutic article, which aims at describing and analyzing scenarios in the Department of Nariño that guided agricultural education from its inception up to the present. The article consults reviews of the literature of national and departmental experts. It makes special mention of the domain of foreign missions in the Colombian educational system and changes in  educational policies throughout history. Although the evolution of agricultural education records positive signs in the country, its future does not seem clear and problems are evident, as it faces even more challenges, such as globalization, treaties and free trade, environmental deterioration and limited budgets. Finally, the question is raised: what can be done to support the future of agricultural education to improve the scenario of pessimism and social injustice? To find the answer requires a scrutiny of the history of Colombian education, in order to discover the errors of the past, as charged by the present.