Africa-Press – Cape verde. The director of the Pedagogical Management, Assessment, and Educational Inclusion Service highlighted this Monday the importance of equipping preschool professionals with tools to “gain a greater working knowledge” with children, aiming for “higher quality teaching.”
“This culture of recycling and environmental education teaches our children that we can make the most of what is considered waste. It could be a bottle cap, a yogurt cup—in short, things we can transform into beautiful materials,” declared Maria Helena Andrade, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the training for municipal Early Childhood Education coordinators on the islands of Maio and Santiago.
The training, which falls within the scope of PAREP-CV activities, aims, according to the same source, to create playful, didactic, and pedagogical materials using recycled materials, with the purpose of strengthening the quality of early childhood education.
Andrade also stated that with this type of teaching, the Ministry of Education is “cultivating and instilling environmental education in children.”
“A child with cerebral palsy needs a material to thicken the pencil to hold it. For these children with special educational needs, we produce and purchase materials, as the project also incorporates an inclusion program,” he explained, adding that the intention is to ensure no one is left behind.
For the Education Delegate of the municipality of Praia, Constantina Afonso, this training “unites two fundamental pillars” of contemporary education: pedagogical creativity and environmental awareness.
“Today, we begin a journey that goes far beyond the production of teaching materials. We are cultivating a new way of teaching, more sensitive, more sustainable, and closer to the reality of our children,” he said, emphasizing that by transforming recyclable materials into learning tools, we are “transforming mindsets.”
In this context, he recalled the thinking of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, who argued that “education does not change the world, but changes people, who, in turn, change the world.”
PAREP-CV program coordinator Ana Santos emphasized that this three-day training aims to raise awareness and reuse materials, with an emphasis on the three “Rs.”
The training began today in Praia, similar to what was done in Barlavento, São Vicente, and aims to train preschool coordinators in tools for improving the quality of teaching.
The training, which includes coordinators from the Sotavento Islands, has only begun with those from Santiago and Maio. It is unknown when those from Fogo and Brava will be able to arrive, while those from Boa Vista are expected to arrive at any time.
The Support Program for Priority Education Reform in Cape Verde (PAREP-CV), following approval of a US$5 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), will run for five years and seeks to promote the universalization of preschool education and improve the quality of teaching in the first cycle of basic education.
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