The IU Digital of Antioquia held its largest graduation ceremony to date, graduating a total of 393 students in different academic programs. Among them are its first four students deprived of liberty, who successfully completed their studies and are ready for social reintegration once their time in prison is over.
“In a country where education has long been a privilege of a few, the Antioquia Digital UI stands as a symbol of hope and change. With a focus on life skills and inclusion, the institution has shown that education can break chains, open doors and transform lives,” say spokespersons for the institution.
In other departments
The IU Digital of Antioquia has a group of 16 students deprived of liberty (8 in Puerto Triunfo, 2 in Bellavista, 3 in Pedregal, 1 in La Pola, 1 in Istmina-Chocó and 1 in Probation). .
Due to this interest of people deprived of liberty, since 2020 the IU Digital of Antioquia regulated the conditions for them to advance their university studies. The initiative is part of the entity’s inclusion programs.
“This is a very important milestone and is the possibility of giving second chances, the Digital IU of Antioquia, together with the National Penitentiary Institute INPEC, has achieved an inter-administrative alliance and these are the first fruits of that agreement that we signed 4 years ago. ”says Jasson de la Rosa Isaza, rector of the IU Digital of Antioquia.
Sebastian’s story
“For Sebastián today was a different day in his daily life in the prison. He did not sleep, since yesterday he was eagerly awaiting the news of the departure time for Medellín on his way to receive his professional title.
He was looking forward to that hug with his family, to see his fellow students, his professors, to know the University that allowed him to dream and to realize that freedom was in the soul and that he did not have to leave his goals behind.
Today he proudly received his title as a professional in Advertising and Digital Marketing and invited other people deprived of liberty to follow in his footsteps, because he assures that study is a very powerful tool to achieve new opportunities, to resocialize and not let die, in through bars, their dreams, because with education fears are lost.
Sebastián assures, after his experience in the penitentiary center and seeing the fruits of his efforts today, that ‘the only thing that can really give meaning to the change of a human being is study and continuous study. The study is the most powerful entity of transformation that any society can have and if a society does not invest in education, it is not investing in anything.’”
INPEC has also supported
The support of INPEC has been fundamental in this process of bringing the IU Digital de Antioquia programs to the different penitentiary centers. A joint task that has allowed 16 people today to pursue different careers, technologies and specializations.
The goal is to ensure that more people deprived of liberty can access higher education, even taking advantage of the free Zero Enrollment policies.
For the Northwest Regional Director of INPEC, María Alexandra García, “Education is very important for our prisoners, it opens doors for them, it opens paths for them once they are released. So, truly, the institute is very grateful first to our Governor and then to the University for this important opportunity that we have for those deprived of liberty.”
Thanks to the results obtained to date with the students deprived of liberty and with the graduation of these first four students, who are the pilot of this education process, a new agreement was signed with INPEC to have 22 students in this 2024. The final objective is to reach an agreement that allows students from all prisons in the country.
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