Moving with Purpose: Using Technology to Keep Kids in School

THE ORIENTATION

COVID-19 Prevention Protocol in English

El Salvador’s public school students, both rural and urban, are facing an uncertain academic future due to COVID-19. As institutional disorganization at a national level leads to essential services, like education, becoming too complicated for communities to maneuver, at the same time, the Ministry of Education expects teachers, who have had very little experience with technology, to learn said technology on their own and teach via digital platforms to students who themselves often times cannot afford internet to access these platforms.

The Centro Escolar Amando Lopez Technology Lab is an inter-institutional initiative to connect teachers and students with the technology they need to advance in their academic goals. While we are confident that MINED will eventually achieve coherent policies and practices, we also recognize the current threat of mass retention and desertion looming over the country’s schools located in more marginalized regions.

This week we concluded our program and staff development as well as community orientations. Next Tuesday (7/28) the program begins!

In the end, we hope that this project can be an example of how to run a rural mobile technology lab, both during and after a pandemic.

CLICK HERE to learn more

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Protocolo de la Prevención de COVID-19 en Español 

Moviéndose con Propósito: El Uso de la Tecnología para Mantener el Alumnado en la Escuela

Lxs estudiantes de escuelas públicas de El Salvador, tanto rurales como urbanos, enfrentan un futuro académico incierto debido a COVID-19. Por la desorganización institucional a nivel nacional, los servicios esenciales, como la educación, se vuelven demasiado complicados para que las comunidades puedan gestionar y, al mismo tiempo, el Ministerio de Educación espera que la facultad de la escuelas, que tienen muy poca experiencia con la tecnología, aprendan dicha tecnología por su cuenta y enseñar a través de plataformas digitales a estudiantes, pero ellxs mismxs muchas veces no pueden pagar por internet para acceder a estas plataformas.

El Laboratorio Tecnológico del Centro Escolar Amando López es una iniciativa interinstitucional para conectar a maestrxs y estudiantes con la tecnología que necesitan para avanzar en sus objetivos académicos. Si bien confiamos en que MINED finalmente logrará políticas y prácticas coherentes, también reconocemos la amenaza actual de retención y deserción masiva, que se cierne sobre las escuelas del país ubicadas en regiones más marginadas.

Esta semana, concluimos nuestras reuniones de desarrollo del programa y de personal, así como las orientaciones de la comunidad. ¡El próximo martes (28/7) comienza el programa!

A fin de cuentas, esperamos que este proyecto pueda ser un ejemplo de cómo ejecutar un laboratorio educativo rural, tanto durante como después de una pandemia.

HAGA CLIC AQUÍ para aprender mas

 

 

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE…

… Like giving from your heart

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With 587 confirmed cases and 13 deaths, COVID19 is gaining momentum here in El Salvador. Last night, the Salvadoran government decided to extended it’s lockdown measures until May 19th. This means that more people will be out of work, more kids won’t be getting their free school meals (or access to education for that matter), more abuse victims will be subject to more violence and human rights violations will no doubt persist.

To meet the needs of our communities during quarantine, we created a COVID19 Emergency Fund, in order to reach as many vulnerable people as we could. To date, with this fund we have helped over 140 families feed themselves, 14 families maintain their vegetable and livestock farms, and we’ve been working with schools to figure our ways to bring internet to more communities so that all students can fully participate in their online learning.

With the mounting restrictions, we can only do so much as an organization to help during the lockdown, so we’ve found new and innovative ways to communicate, coordinate and monitor the aid that’s needed.

This #GivingTuesday, you can be assured that any donation, small or large, will ensure our ability to carry on providing for individuals and families who’s very survival depends on them going out and earning their day to day income.

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Click Here to Donate

Fundraising Campaign: Peace & Safety for a Family in Need

Please read and share our current Gofundme campaign. LINK HERE

Every donation contributes to the emergency relocation and short-term economic assistance for a Bajo Lempa family in need.

Carlos Rosario School Returns to El Salvador with New Delegates

Voices had the pleasure of hosting a delegation from Carlos Rosario, a public charter school for adult immigrants in Washington, D.C. Seven of their staff came down to El Salvador, where a majority of students are from, in order to learn about the country and better understand their students’ roots. The delegates’ objective was to explore the broad reality of Salvadoran culture, economics and education as well as the dynamic effects that migration has on individuals, families and communities.

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After receiving a detailed explanation of the people’s history of El Salvador, they met with the Vice Minister of Education, Teacher’s Union Leaders, a human rights defender, visited the National Cathedral, the UCA, toured the Museum of Words and Images and bought a lot of good reads at Equipo Maiz. Then they traveled to Morazán where they talked with the pastoral team of Community Segundo Montes about the 9 years they’d spent in the refugee camps in Colomoncagua, Honduras. They got a thorough overview of the civil war at the Museum of Revolution in Perquin and reflected heavily after visiting El Mozote. In the lower Lempa River region, they stayed with hosts families in Amando Lopez and experienced life in agriculture based communities there and along the coast. They visited with local community leaders and teachers to hear their perspectives on development and education in the region, they donated much needed supplies to three separate schools and before it was all done they taught a class!

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The group was delightful. They asked great questions, covered a lot of ground, offered helpful suggestions, participated in meaningful dialogue and gave a gift to nearly everyone they met.

Carlos Rosario, thank you and keep up the good work in D.C.  |  READ THEIR BLOG!