Education

Situation in the countries

In the countries where Enfants du Monde is active, the educational systems generally confront two major issues :

- inadequate coverage: education is neither accessible everywhere in the country nor to all children of school-age
- insufficient quality: education is not adapted to local realities; teachers do not have sufficient preparation; high levels of absenteeism; low academic output, etc.

Example: Basic education for the Maya children in Guatemala

Enfants du Monde's approach

Education is a necessary condition, but it alone is not sufficient for children's and people's development.

Enfants du Monde considers education as an effective means of action for local realities and for social transformation. Education should also allow the child to develop essential dimensions for his/her adulthood as well as higher thinking abilities. These two visions of education as an end in itself and as a means compliment each other to give education its place as the motor of an individual's and a population's development.

Efforts must thus be reoriented towards the improvement of the quality of educational processes that enable a theoretical and practical appropriation of knowledge. Quality education must not only enable the acquisition of knowledge as such but also "learn how to learn", that is to develop the learning mechanism in a critical and evolving way throughout life, without limiting oneself to the memorization of basic or functional knowledge.

Education should also be accessible to all, without discrimination, which constitutes one of the fundamental bases of democracy.

One of the approaches proposed by Enfants du Monde to its partners is the Pedagogy of the Text which privileges the learning of different textual genders as an important element of the teaching process and advocates a pedagogy oriented towards the learner's autonomy and personal development.