Education Defeats Poverty

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Mission

The mission of the Education Defeats Poverty Project is to help underprivileged children build fundamental educational abilities for school and social inclusion, and to help local Rroma schools improve the quality of education, be more independent, and assume a more active role in the process of social change.

The need

The resources and motivation for proper education are sorely lacking in Rroma communities and schools. Less than 20% of Rroma children attend kindergarten, meaning that once they arrive in first grade - if they attend at all - they are already behind in knowledge of basic concepts. Trying to catch up for their entire educational career, most Rroma students give up early. 80% of Rroma students drop out before reaching secondary school. Clearly, support is needed for Rroma students of all ages, but the need is perhaps most critical at the early stages, when habits are still forming. We believe that improving education levels is the best way of alleviating poverty.

How the project works

The Education Defeats Poverty Project has two main goals: increasing the abilities of local schools, and providing extra-curricular activities for young students at our Education Centre "Ziurel," which was finished in 2009. To achieve the first, we work to build school capabilities by providing materials, renovating rooms, and building additions for extracurricular activity. FAST has funded activity rooms in the school of the local village of Zizin, and built a kindergarten in the same community. FAST has also built a small Education Centre in the courtyard of a school in another local village called Tarlungeni, where afterschool activities have begun to be held.

To achieve the second goal, we work with 1st graders from local villages at our Education Centre to improve their basic knowledge, social behavior, and practical skills. The number of participating children each week is between 80 and 100.

Current and future project goals

With the success of the afterschool programs in the village of Tarlungeni, we are turning our current attention to the larger and more strained-for-resources school in the area of Garcin. Beginning in September 2009, we hope to include all 150 Garcin 1st graders in our program, and to craft a program of continuing education in support of the school's curriculum, with the eventual goal of sending Garcin students to high school.

The Welcomed Return of Friends who Provide a Varied Programme for Families and Children Written by Barbara Newton and Pat Boyd Our trip to Ziurel, Sacele. 26 th July to 8 th August 2010. This year we joined Kathy, Elsa and two Sixth Form girls – Harriet and Helen ...  (more)

More from Libra….a Students Account! Lily Green, one of the students on the Libra trip has given an account of her experience on working on the project. Written by Lily Green The school trips only ran for three days...  (more)

The Libra Foundation Inspire the Children to Think About their Future Careers For the first two weeks in July, we had the Libra Foundation visit us for their third year. The centre was full to the brim with 16 students and 4 leaders who split off each day into their separate pr...  (more)

Garcin Children’s Summer Camp Treat sponsored by DHL Romania Written by Anca Mezei The children in Garcin had the wonderful opportunity to attend a special camp in Cernadia, fully sponsored by DHL Romania. For 5 days, 11 Roma children from...  (more)

Volunteers make the Children Smile! Written by Liz Greenhalgh During the last week of April, we were very happy to have with us, Joyce Patterson and Elaine Craig from Romanian Big Smile, Edinburgh. Romanian Big Smile has been...  (more)