On Saturday morning, September the 10th, on their way to Sao Tome and Principe, departed from Lisbon a group of teachers. They are Portuguese teachers, cooperaters, and they started off a new year of collaboration with the project “School +”, an initiative that is promoting more and better secondary education in the country.
Throughout the school year, this team of Portuguese teachers working in partnership with local teachers and the Sao Tome Ministry of Education are in place to ensure access to and quality of the secondary education. More than teaching, it is a way to value the skills of the Sao Toméan teachers, by training and strengthening their skills so that in the future they can ensure the sustainability of the project and local accountability for its results.
This year, the School + kicks off with the consolidation of a new curriculum revision, able to adapt the education system to the real needs of the country. The introduction of a 12th year and new ways of professional teaching – general courses of professional education and professional qualifying courses – are the more visible hallmarks of this process. It is a decisive step in students’ access to an education system with more choices and, in future, more career opportunities. But, this revision of the curricula also adds to the update of various classes and the availability of books to support teaching, teacher training and Sao Toméan technical school management and administration, in addition to the equipment and renovations of the school grounds.
From the islands to the mainland of Angola, a new campaign of public health and hygiene is being prepared for this school year in the schools of Cazenga, a peri-urban district of Luanda the most affected by the lack of basic urban organisation and infrastructure after a fast population growth. Plays, lectures and awareness material – posters, stickers, notebooks, education support, school supplies – help to pass messages and complement the main objective of IMVF?s local project: contribute to the improvement of water supply and support the implementation of a model of community management of water points.
In Portugal, the launch of the new school year is also the right time for the World School project. In addition to restarting the visits to participating schools, with more suggestions for activities to be implemented by classes, new contacts are materialised, seeking to strengthen the network of educators aware of the integration in the curricula of themes of social justice. The last visit took place on the 14th of September, at Virgilio Ferreira School.
Education is one of the fundamental pillars for eradicating poverty. As a partner in development, IMVF has invested continuously in this sector, in improving the overall quality of teaching and promoting equal access of men and women to education.