Julia Rubiano de la Cruz, Secretary of Education of Bogotá, Colombia

In this episode of EWF Conversations, EWF Programme Director Fabrizio Trifirò talks to Julia Rubiano, Secretary of Education of Bogotá, Colombia. This episode explores the strategic reforms being implemented to improve quality and equity within Bogotá’s education system. Julia highlights the administration's focus on early childhood and foundational learning through a coordinated intersectoral approach that integrates education with health and social services. She discusses the necessity of addressing core operational inefficiencies, such as teacher absenteeism and service delays, while simultaneously implementing evidence-based strategies for learning recovery. Julia also shares examples of how the city is fostering safe, protective learning environments through the "Schools with Emotions" initiative, reflects on the challenge of finding a balanced, evidence-based approach to AI and social media, and explores how demographic trends like declining birth rates might offer opportunities to transition toward single-school-day models and smaller classroom sizes.