Alexander Rubio

Alexander has been a teacher since 1999 at the Rodrigo Lara Bonilla school, a public school situated in the locality of Ciudad Bolívar in the city of Bogota, Colombia. This area is characterised by its conflict situations, with victims of forced displacement (people who have had to leave their home regions because of armed conflict) and problems relating to gangs, micro-trafficking, theft, and murder. This means that the students are a vulnerable population; school becomes the only alternative to not perpetuating the difficulties.

Alexander specialises in physical education, and through his classes he has allowed students to become aware of themselves by using innovative techniques such as yoga, body expression and first body percussion. As a result his school set the national yoga record in 2012 – with the participation of 1,200 students from the school – and also conducted the 2014 peace exercise, which led to a Guinness record in 2014. Students have improved their academic performance, placing the school’s results at a higher level in state examinations. 80% of school leavers have continued their studies at a technical and professional level, allowing them to work in honest professions. In 2013, Alexander’s approach was published in the research journal of the Pontifical Bolivarian University, and his work has been recognised by the Bogota education secretary.

With the prize funds, Alexander would launch school workshops that enable his approach to be disseminated, visiting each of Colombia’s 32 departments. In addition, an educational support text with audio-visual aids will be created that will then be delivered to all of the country’s teachers.