Annual Report 2014

STRENGTHENING THE PROPOSAL FOR RURAL SCHOOLS

PROMOTING READING AS AN ENGINE FOR LEARNING ACCESS TO INFORMATIVE MATERIALS AND READING SPACES

ObjeCtivES • To provide our students with study material • To highlight the importance of reading as an information tool • To bring the community to the centre so that they can have access to reading materials

At School No. 16 in Cerro Chato, one of the most populous in the rural heart of Paysandú, the “Reading for All” project is being rolled out to allow the 108 children to access up-to-date recreational and educational books. In 2013 the teaching team found that the weakest area of learning among its 108 students was in terms of literacy. In order to improve the results of this diagnosis, they presented the “Reading for All” project to the UPM Foundation. The aim of the project is “to improve the written output of the students by giving them access to a range of updated literary resources and by encouraging reading and the enjoyment of reading”. Within the framework of this project, the UPM Foundation collaborated by providing textbooks and study books covering the needs of children from

pre-school age to year nine. The head of School No. 16, Ms Alejandra Andrada, explained that the centre “did not have any type of materials, either recreational for the smaller children or educational for year sixth upwards”. The proposal therefore attempts to recover the importance of reading as a learning tool. “Here we have little access to materials, reading spaces and updated information”, said Andrada. In fact, the institution has not had access to the internet for the past few months so books have become the only access to information. So much so that at secondary school level (years 7, 8 and 9) the books received under the project were used by teachers as the main books to teach the classes. “Textbooks have been essential for the secondary school”, summarises Andrada. For the younger ones, the project has provided them

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108

Students

Teachers

Books

30 2014 ANNUAL REPORT