Risks of School Dropouts. The Day After!     DONATE HERE

UNESCO & OECD have alerted already. The effect of coronavirus school closings could have drastic Education consequences for the most vulnerable Children and Youth, expecting school dropout waves with immediate impact and over their lifetime.

According to the Ministry of Education-Chile, about 187,000 Children and Adolescents (5 to 21 years old) are excluded from the education system. On the other hand, because of COVID-19 and the economic crisis, over 80,000 school dropouts are expected for the school year ending in 2020. It could be worse depending on the developments of the pandemic and the economic problems scope.

The sudden transition from Face-to-Face Learning to Remote Learning has exposed our preexisting inequalities on this At-risk population in Chile, now exacerbated, such as precarious jobs, unemployment, multidimensional poverty, single parenting, parents’ education level, early pregnancy, caregiving for siblings, domestic violence. Many times, struggling to survive in a poor little hut with enough room just to lie down and sleep. Without a computer, internet access, or a quiet space to study or their basic needs met.

Healing the wounds of decades of deprivations and poverty is a slow and patient full-time job 24/7 to work with tenacity and determination, both students and teachers, to heal damaged self-esteem for many students when they just start in our Schools.

Our inclusive Quality Education Model from SUMATE foundation of Hogar de Cristo, dedicated to Education, helps vulnerable Children and Adolescents to retrieve their learning trajectories and strengthen further on the next steps. We have own five (5) Re-Entry Schools in La Granja, Maipú, Renca, La Pintana, and Lota where specialized teachers, counselors, and staff lavishing personalized attention. The schools are small (60 to 250 students) and teachers know every student’s name and they can tell when trouble is brewing to manage it.

SUMATE also offers its know-how and experience over 25 years to export its innovative model benefiting public schools located in vulnerable communities, and other institutions or entities with At-Risk Children and Adolescents. The model covers areas of Retention, Re-Schooling, Re-Entry (5 schools), and Projection.

Liliana Cortés, Executive Director from SUMATE with long Know-how in the Education of vulnerable students, notes that to promotes and implement Social and Emotional Well-Being and resilience strategy, is very important for students who face challenges at home or have a history of traumatic events in their lives. However, the long-term solution goes through to implement a Nationwide Public Policy and strategies that create and finance the Modality of “Re-entry Schools”.

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