Pedrito and His Genuine Desire to Learn
This year, with great joy he managed to overcome obstacles that prevented him from learning to read, add, and subtract.
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Pedro Irala Tapari is a child from the indigenous Ava Guaraní community who loves climbing trees and playing soccer with his friends. When he grows up, he wants to study nursing just like his mother. This year, with great joy he managed, with the help of his teacher, to overcome the obstacles that prevented him from learning to read, add, and subtract.
He prefers to be called "Pedrito." He is eight years old and attends the third grade at Arroyo Verde School, located in a rural area of Santa Rosa del Aguaray, in the San Pedro department of Paraguay. He shares that when he first started school, he couldn't read and found learning very difficult. However, he was determined to succeed because he saw his sister doing it and wanted to try as well.
Thanks to the "Let's Go to School!" project, an initiative by the Ministry of Education in partnership with UNICEF and the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation’s Educate A Child program, Pedrito was able to access quality primary education and attend the Learning Recovery Spaces (ERA, acronym in Spanish) classes. He needs specific support to develop foundational skills in literacy and mathematics. In the ERA sessions, both Pedrito and his classmates use literacy materials in their native language, as well as computers provided by the project, equipped with various resources, such as videos, stories, practice exercises, quizzes, and games to facilitate learning in an interactive and fun way.
For his mother, Dalila Tapari, the learning assessments were important to understand her son's level of knowledge in mathematics and Spanish. Based on the assessment results, Pedrito began participating in the ERA, which helped him develop skills through teaching at the right level.
"The assessment they conducted was very important for him to improve. For a while, my son Pedrito was behind in reading, but during this stage, he improved significantly. It's good that we, as parents, support and encourage our children to move forward, to go to school, so that they can fulfil their dreams"
"The foundation of development is education"
Secundino Vera, leader of the Arroyo Verde community, views the Learning Recovery Spaces and the progress being made in the community positively. He stated, "For a better life, indigenous children need to study because the foundation of development is education. Now, boys and girls can study, they have schools, and in this way, education advances," he assured.
Nilda Undia is the departmental coordinator of the "Let's Go to School!" project, working for Fundación Alda, UNICEF’s implementing partner. She says that access to education is a significant challenge for children from indigenous communities, due to critical existing barriers. However, she highlighted that the approach of the "Let's Go to School!" project includes community work that is aligned with the cultural patterns of multiple indigenous peoples.
"The first thing we did was explain the initiative's objective to the leader and, through him, to the community. Together, we agreed to work in a coordinated manner to achieve the project´s ultimate goal. It's very positive to see how families are committed to ensuring that children attend, stay, and learn in school," she indicated.
The ERA’s educational strategy is helping children and adolescents progress in their learning and stay in school. Families recognize their children's progress and are committed to their education. The ERA methodology, adapted to the reality and patterns of indigenous peoples, is also valued by the Ministry of Education, which has committed to strengthening it as an appropriate strategy to reduce education exclusion among traditional communities.
