Education Argentina Project #24992

Focusing on children in Argentina

by Pilares (Fundacion Accion Pais para la Formacion de Liderazgo Social)

Project Report | Sep 26, 2018
New workshop to avoid school dropout

By Magdalena Garcia Pena | Project Leader

Secondary students sharing the experience

In Argentina, 39% of the students who start secondary school drop out or graduate later than what is expected. For students living in poverty conditions, the amount rises to 62.5%.

At Pilares' Education Program we witness the complications that arise during the last year of primary school for the students and hack the possibility of continuing throughout the secondary. To make this transition easier, we created a workshop for 7th grade students that are preparing to start secondary school in Villa 21-24, the biggest slum in the City of Buenos Aires.

First, we encourage them to value their path through primary school... what they learnt, their effort to finish this stage, the friends they made. Then we start thinking about the challenges that secondary years present: the increase in the amount of subjects and professors, going to a new school and making new friends.

Once we say out loud fears and doubts and we face them together, it's time to think about the different type of public secondarys that they can choose and think what they want for the future. So we visit the different public schools around the neighbourhood, we ask secondary students to tell them about their experience, we talk with the professors and, finally, we encourage their families to come to the program and proceed wtih the registration process.

In Buenos Aires, the public education system allows enrollment only through Internet. This is a restriction for many families that don't have access or knowledges to manage these tools. So at the Education Program we provide computers and assistance to facilitate the student's inscription to a secondary school.

Only 15% of the parents of these students finished secondary school which means it's hard for them to give the propoer accompaniment to their sons and daughers in a moment of uncertainty and change like this one.

All this situations affect the children and discourage them from finishing school. Having a place to share their thought and feelings, and also learning about different opportunities they can achieve is one way to encourage them to keep on going. Thanks to your support we can sustain this workshop and all the Education Program to privde more and better tools for the children's future.

100% of the 7th grade students that attended the workshop finished primary school already registered in a secondary school. And that is, for us, the possibility of a better future.

Gustavo and Axel listening during the workshop

Education Program students and secondary students

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Jun 27, 2018
Let the volunteers speak!

By Eli Reynolds | Volunteer at Pilares

We always try to share, through this reports, the heart of the Education Program so you can understand what we actually do everyday at this program in the heart of the biggest slum of Buenos Aires. On this ocassion we thought Eli's point of view would be very valuable for you to understand how we are working with the children. Hope you enjoy it!

Hey there!

My name is Eli Reynolds from Huntsville, Alabama. This past semester I had the incredible opportunity to volunteer with Pilares in their Education Program. I served as a tutor, who along with the other volunteers, assisted the children in the understanding and completion of their homework. In addition to this, we helped the English teacher through presentations and leading games in order to make the learning fun.

I volunteered every Tuesday from 9-12. A typical day was breakfast with the children, teaching English to 5^th and 6^th grade, general tutoring for 1^st and 2^nd, recess, teaching English to 1^st and 2^nd grade and then lunch. Teaching English provided such a great opportunity to excite the kids to learn about the culture I was from, literally through my language. I witnessed the kids excited to learn outside of the classroom which showed me the integral role Pilares serves to encourage children in their educational pursuits inside and outside of school.

In Pilares, I witnessed so many dedicated teachers and volunteers consistently serving the children to provide a safe and encouraging atmosphere for them. On a daily basis, the children were receiving loving and intentional help on schoolwork, art projects, or even learning another language. I personally experienced the warmth of the full-time workers at Pilares in their whole-hearted acceptance of me as a volunteer, a warmth that is consistently shown to the children and the warmth that makes Pilares more than a place for the children to be: it makes it a home. This home encourages and equips children to pursue a better future for themselves and I saw the beauty in playing a small role in the midst of the very loving atmosphere that makes it all possible.

Links:

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Mar 30, 2018
Big News! A new place for the Education Program

By Maggie Garcia Pena | Project Collaborator

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