The Rewarding Task of Bringing Children Back to School

Azucena Santacruz is a social facilitator for the Let’s Go to School! project, responsible for the districts of San Lorenzo and Ñemby, in the Central Department of Paraguay. As the school year draws to a close, she reflects on her work experience and shares what it means to her to ensure that children have their right to education guaranteed – a challenging task that ultimately moves her, as she feels she is part of something truly important for the country’s future.

Azucena is responsible for supporting six educational institutions in various communities through this joint initiative, which aims to identify, enroll, and ensure the retention and learning of some of the country’s most marginalized children in quality primary education.

The Let’s Go to School! project is led by the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC, in Spanish acronym), in partnership with UNICEF and the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation’s Educate A Child program. It is supported by civil society organizations, such as Global Infancia and Fundación Alda, which dedicate staff and hundreds of volunteers to implement educational activities in the community.

In Paraguay, one out offour children and adolescents (aged 5–17) are out of school, according to a recent study published by the MEC and UNICEF in 2023. For Azucena, seeing a child excluded from educationshould never be normalized. She believes that helping the community understand the issue and that they feel part of the solution is crucial to the progress made by the project.

Learning Recovery Spaces

Once a child excluded from education is identified and enrolled, the social facilitators of the Let’s Go to School! project assist the receiving school in initiating an evaluation of the student. This is done through formative learning assessments and the results of which provide crucial inputs for schools to design and implement support plan in collaboration with families. It is at this point that children identified with specific learning needs participate in sessions, as part of the Learning Recovery Spaces (LRS) component. The LRS utilizes innovative methods, as well as technology and other learning resources. These tools enable teachers to support each student in developing their foundational skills in language and math.

“At first, no one knew about the issue, so we went door to door to raise awareness about the school exclusion phenomenon in the country. We made multiple rounds of family visits, introducing ourselves and explaining the project´s purpose. We had to build trust within the educational community so that all parties understood and committed to collaborating, allowing us to work together to identify, enroll, and ensure that children attended school, which is the best place for them to be and where they belong. It’s incredibly moving to see those who were previously out-of-school now in class, learning vowels, numbers, and receiving real attention. It’s an immense achievement,” Azucena concluded.