Colombian Ministry of Education will co-finance the Martin Luther King Scholarship Program in 2024
This collaboration promotes access to higher education for Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquera and indigenous communities in Colombia.
Updated: June 10, 2024
This collaboration promotes access to higher education for Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquera and indigenous communities in Colombia.
Cali (Valle del Cauca), June 7, 2024. The Colombian Ministry of National Education joins as co-funder of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Program, a flagship program of the US Embassy with support from USAID. The announcement was made by the Minister of National Education, Aurora Vergara Figueroa, during the ceremony of the First Summit of Graduates of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Program in Cali.
By 2024, the Ministry will finance two student groups in Tumaco and one in Quibdó. The agreement will reach a value close to $998 million, with the Ministry contributing around $700 million and the Colombo Center of Medellín, coordinator of the program, with approximately $300 million. These groups join others financed directly by the US Embassy with assistance from USAID.
“Learning English opened the doors to a wonderful future that today allows me as Minister of Education to make decisions about the future of education in Colombia. Our vision is that education transforms people’s lives, that it restores people’s dignity” , noted the minister and invited attendees to attend all Martin Luther King calls that now, with the support of the National Government, are seeking to have new cohorts in Tumaco and Quibdó.
Within this framework of the Martin Luther King Scholarship Program Summit, scholarship recipients from Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities from cities such as Quibdó, Cali and Barranquilla, among others, were honored, who, as beneficiaries of the program, have expanded their academic horizons and contributed to the development of their communities.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Program has been developed in Colombia since 2006, by the Colombian American Centers in cities such as Medellín, Apartadó, Quibdó, Cali, Buenaventura, Palmira, Bogotá, Barranquilla and Cartagena. This project emerges as a path of educational inclusion for Afro and indigenous communities, offering them postgraduate study opportunities inside and outside the country.
Each cohort lasts two years where beneficiaries strengthen their leadership capacities to carry out support activities, which contribute to the continuous development of vulnerable communities and community work. Likewise, it includes training in English of approximately 800 hours, to achieve the development of communicative competence in the English language at an upper-intermediate level.
To date, the program has 914 graduates and an active student population in the 2024-2025 cohort of 344 beneficiaries. The requirements to apply for the program include: being a Colombian citizen of Afro or indigenous descent belonging to strata 1, 2 or 3; be studying between the 3rd and 5th university semester with a minimum average of 3.5; have experience in community work and show a high commitment to learning the English language, among others.
With this alliance between the Ministry of Education and the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Program, equitable access to higher education is strengthened and leadership and social responsibility are promoted among the Afro and indigenous communities of Colombia. In addition, relations are strengthened between the United States Embassy in Colombia, a fundamental ally for the Ministry of National Education in its goal of guaranteeing a more inclusive, diverse and anti-racist education.
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This collaboration promotes access to higher education for Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquera and indigenous communities in Colombia.
