Self-Sustainable Education in Paraguay

“I do not just want to be a local businesswoman, I want to be a businesswoman of the world,” were the words of Nusura, a graduate of SEGA School in Tanzania. Listening to a teenager expressing herself in this way seems like a distant dream. However, this dream is the product of an education she received as a teenager in one of our self-sustaining schools in Africa. She is currently studying at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, preparing herself to achieve her entrepreneurial dream.

Quality education means that young people apply their knowledge and skills to build their future. Incorporating entrepreneurship, intensifying activities that develop problem solving skills, and stimulating critical thinking are some of the characteristics that a school must keep in mind.

The “learning by doing, selling and earning” methodology allows the young people to live experiences that lead them to eliminate the abstract and reflect upon the experiences lived and connect with other events to continue learning. I still remember how my mother taught me how to bake cakes in the house: I did not use a blackboard to learn. And what I learned on the blackboard I have a hard time remembering it.

In the model of self-sustaining school, developed in Cerrito, Benjamín Aceval (Paraguay) and replicated in several countries of the world, we can observe that everything that was mentioned above generated a transformation in students. This transformation is evident in the attitudinal aspect. I mean that there is an increase in being proactive, as well as an increase in self-esteem, appropriation, sense of belonging, responsibility, and creativity among young people.

Just as in Tanzania we saw students as Nusura, in Paraguay we have young people in our schools who manifest this attitudinal transformation. Another example was our graduate Ysmael. The first day he entered my office he opened the door to talk to me. With a shy voice and using words mainly in Guarani language and a little Spanish, a dialogue began between us that would follow througout the rest of the school year. In each meeting, we talked about his different improvements in learning, about the attention in the restaurant and the kitchen. Ysmael’s Spanish got better, as well as his culinary skills. In the middle of it all, we the teachers saw the passion for the gastronomic area ignite. Thus, in the last few months of class I asked Ysmael what his plan would be after graduation. To which he replied: “I want to become a chef. I like the kitchen. I’m going to get a scholarship at a gastronomy institute. “

After overcoming several obstacles, currently Ysmael is studying gastronomy in eastern Paraguay getting closer to fulfilling his dream, which he discovered while studying in our self-sustaining school. Another pleasant surprise, the 3rd-year students (the Seniors), as part of their extracurricular activity, decided to share their learning in leadership and entrepreneurship, organizing training days for other young people of the country. Young people transforming young people, what good news!

In countries such as ours where we see increases in poverty rates, a relevant education becomes a necessity to counteract such an increase. A relevant education to eliminate poverty.

This is the education we want. An education that allows the transformation of young people, who set goals and plans to make dreams come true.

- Luis Fernando Cateura, Manager of the Sustainable Schools Program