Teaching English in Colombia is based on the design and implementation of linguistic educational policies. These policies give origin to plans, programs and projects with national and local scope. Within the local contexts, the rural areas of the country imply various challenges resulting from processes of marginalization and centralism. This qualitative research project sought to identify the degree of relevance of current language education policies aimed at teaching and learning English in an educational institution located in a rural municipality in the department of Cundinamarca. The procedures for data collection and analysis followed the parameters of a case study and grounded theory respectively. The participants sample was made up of two members of the school´s management body, two urban and three rural teachers, a group of 30 eleventh grade students, two parents and one former student. Data collection techniques included document collection, semi-structured interviews and surveys. The data analysis procedures accounted for the educational needs and perspectives of the community of the Institution about the relevance of the current linguistic educational policies. Based on these aspects, the study suggests, on the one hand, that the educational needs of the Institution, reflected in phenomena such as educational drop-out and non-optimal conditions for teaching, make it difficult for part of the population to gain access to the advantages of the universalization of English in the country; on the other hand, the findings point out that the lack of targeting strategies for the improvement of teaching conditions keeps this educational community at a disadvantage for learning the English language. The results of the study imply that government measures must be taken to increase the degree of relevance of the linguistic educational policies that guide the teaching and learning of English in the community where the project was carried out.