“It is an effort to combat social inequality and guarantee educational continuity.” This is how the Municipality of Córdoba presents the comprehensive socio-educational plan “Córdoba for the right to education”. This is a proposal designed to accompany and reintegrate into the school system girls, boys, adolescents and young people who have abandoned their studies, have weak learning or repeated absences.
This plan is part of the United Municipalities for Children and Adolescents (Muna) program, coordinated by Unicef Argentina. Its implementation is transversal and articulated, involving both formal education institutions and social education institutions that make up the city’s Municipal Educational System.
“Social inequality seriously affects the educational system, affecting the school trajectories of the most economically and culturally disadvantaged students. This is reflected in late admissions, temporary and permanent dropouts, and multiple repetitions,” they diagnosed from the municipality. In response to this reality, the Ministry of Education “decided to deepen quality policies that ensure the right to education, facilitating the entry, transit and exit of students, guaranteeing the development of support proposals for the complete educational trajectories of girls, children and adolescents, and promoting articulation between levels,” they indicated from that municipal office through a statement.
“The majority of students who leave school are teenagers: they don’t like studying or they fail and become discouraged and so do their families. So we try to reintegrate them and also accompany them in activities that are of interest to them, such as the robotics courses that we give in the park. Our idea is “zero dropout” and that not only does school start but there is permanence,” he said in dialogue with The voiceAlicia La Terza, socio-educational secretary of the Municipality of Córdoba in charge of the initiative.
In this way, they indicate, “the principle of social justice is made possible through education.”
Literacy and support
Literacy is key to inclusion and cultural development. The plan will implement strategies in primary schools and Educational Parks, focusing on literacy and capacity development, as the official expressed. The objective is to guarantee a complete educational trajectory for those students who are at risk or who have lost contact with the educational system.
Interdisciplinary teams work on this plan to promote dialogue between institutions through territorial management tables, rethinking curricular approaches and didactic practices. The continuous training of teaching teams will be a priority to ensure effective literacy and the autonomous development of students.
La Terza remembers one of the cases they had in which they found an 11-year-old boy who had never gone to school, who came from a rural environment. In those cases a special program is applied, she indicated.
Articulation and support
The plan also contemplates coordination with the provincial educational system to share data, experiences and projects, generating territorial approach strategies for the identification and active search of students outside of school. Links with families will be strengthened, promoting their involvement in the educational process.
Plan implementation
The Secretary of Education of the Municipality of Córdoba, together with the Undersecretaries of Initial, Primary and Modal Education, and of Social, Scientific and Technological Education, will coordinate the implementation of the plan through several devices:
-Territorial management team: It will coordinate pedagogical and organizational actions for the implementation of the plan.
-Territorial educational accompaniment: A team of educators in the Educational Parks will plan and implement the educational accompaniment device.
-Community educational tables: Spaces for dialogue and meeting in the Educational Parks, involving various institutions and social organizations to address complete educational trajectories.
Educational statistics unit: It will systematize and analyze data on dropouts, discontinuous trajectories and students at risk, constructing statistics for the Ministry of Education.
-Technical and professional training
In a second stage, we will work together with the University Foundation of Trades to bring adolescents closer to technical, professional and trade training, strengthening support for educational and work trajectories.
This ambitious initiative seeks not only to reintegrate students into the educational system, but also to build a comprehensive network that promotes social justice through education, guaranteeing the right to quality education for all.
“Childhood care is essential to have critical and free men of the future. Education allows you to decide in your life. Our mission is that,” concluded La Terza.
