Supporting Children to Return to School
Since the early 2010s, access to quality education for all has been at the heart of ATD Fourth World’s priorities. In this series, you will learn about the work of ATD Fourth World teams in education, including early childhood education.
This website will feature regular publications featuring ATD’s educational achievements in the months ahead. These accounts tell the story of ATD Fourth World initiatives and demonstrate the teams’ collaboration with children, families, and communities.
We will explore the work of teams dedicated to supporting specific aspects of children’s lives and development. One team aims to reinforce family ties, another assists with children’s schooling and academic success, while another contributes to the cultural enrichment of neighbourhood children…
Each of these narratives threads together to form a vibrant framework for a society that can offer quality education for all — including children in poverty.
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Return to School in Tanzania
This month, we present the segment of our education series that highlights projects aimed at providing quality formal education for children living in extreme poverty.
How can we facilitate children’s access to school and what obstacles can we remove?
What special help do they need to succeed? How can we transform school into opportunities for these children?
The ATD Fourth World team in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, begins this section with a detailed analysis of a collective effort that helped two young girls, ages 9 and 11. The children were able to return to school After a two-year hiatus caused by their family’s difficult living conditions.
In this narrative, obstacles are overcome one by one. We learn about the immense energy invested by a mother and the team who supported her to ensure that her two girls not only returned to school but thrived there. As the school’s staff made significant adjustments to accommodate the children, all those involved shared the victory represented by the girls’ success at school. The participants, learning from each other, emerged strengthened and transformed, paving the way for other children to benefit in the future and demonstrating that the girls’ success was a collective effort.
A Chance to Be Somebody
This account of the ATD Fourth World team in Tanzania has been a major source of inspiration for our research using the Merging of Knowledge approach and advocacy entitled “Education for All”.
Read “A Chance to Be Somebody” about Rhoda, Asha and their mother Salma, who received support by ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps members Hamisi and Hemed along with other key individuals.
Next in our education series, we will learn about Ang Galing. This is a programme for children who live with their families in the North Cemetery of Manila, Philippines. Children who are failing or have dropped out of school are helped with reading and writing, while the programme also provides tools to rebuild the self-confidence that is needed to succeed in school.