Education and human mobility: conflicts between bureaucratic requirements and fundamental rights in Ecuador

Abstract

In a context of increasing human mobility, access to education for migrant children in Ecuador is often limited by administrative barriers that, although seemingly neutral, generate forms of structural exclusion. This study aimed to analyze how the administrative requirements of the Ecuadorian educational system affect the effective realization of the right to education for children in situations of human mobility and to highlight the need for state practices that are inclusive and consistent with national and international human rights standards. The methodology employed a qualitative approach with a legal-documentary design, focusing on the analysis of the G.N.A.R. case (Judgment No. 1497-20-JP/21), using normative, jurisprudential, and doctrinal sources, and applying content analysis to examine the tensions between administrative requirements and the right to education for children in mobility. Although the Constitution and international treaties recognize education as a universal right, bureaucratic rigidity imposes restrictions that affect migrant children. In Judgment No. 1497-20-JP/21, the Constitutional Court determined that these requirements violate the principles of equality, non-discrimination, and the best interests of the child. Such practices constitute institutional violence and indirect discrimination by ignoring the life trajectories of vulnerable individuals. Therefore, it is necessary to transform public administration toward a human rights-based approach through inclusive protocols and regulatory flexibility. From a transformative constitutionalism perspective, formal legality cannot prevail over substantive justice; ensuring effective access to education requires adapting the legal framework to the conditions of the subjects.