Specialised Teacher for Children with School Difficulties financed by CANPACK COLOMBIA SAS

The area of Marquetalia is a rural area of high poverty and unemployment, the only sources of work are banana plantations and incipient tourism affected by acute public order problems that have plagued the area for the last two decades.

One consequence of the low level of development in the area is the low level of schooling of the children. Our social work identified 16 children in the village with school problems.  Of these, 6 had dropped out of school and 10 were not attending school regularly, which was the beginning of a vicious circle that would lead to school failure: behavioral problems, aggression, and finally expulsion from school. Children between 9 and 14 years of age from vulnerable families, with a low level of schooling, family disintegration, poverty and socio-economic problems that led them to drop out of school.

Our social work presented the project “Finish your High School”, aimed at these children, which has been generously funded by the company CAN PACK COLOMBIA. The program is led by two specialised teachers. It covers all primary and secondary school subjects, with personalised attention, with the aim of reintegrating them into school, improving their self-esteem, developing the skills of their educational cycles, so that they can complete their studies. The program also provides them with school supplies and daily snacks.

It is worth noting that most of the children who benefit from the program went back to school and are now able to complete their academic activities.

However, as they do not have a space to study in their homes nor the support of their families to do their daily homework. We provide them our facilities with the teachers and the person in charge of the Ludoteca, who attend to them individually every day after school. Supporting them with their homework at their individual level on the subjects they have difficulties in.

On Saturdays they take part in various activities: ecological walks to develop environmental awareness, rubbish collection by the river and along the paths of the village. At the end of each Saturday, they watch a recreational film in the Ludoteca.