By Rachel Schmitt
“Are there poor kids in your country?”Nicolás*, age 10, asks after explaining his daily routine. He wakes up at 8 a.m., catches the bus, eats breakfast at school and then goes to class all on his own. “I go to language class and also am learning [multiplication] tables of between four and seven,” he explains. “After school I go to the workshops: carpentry, bricklaying, plumbing and painting.” Nicolas is known by his teachers for being hardworking, very independent and for having an exceptional sense of motivation and concentration. However, he doesn’t like anything about living in El Vacie.
The shantytown of El Vacie is home to nearly 200 children who are integrated into various schools throughout Seville. But irregular attendance and problematic living environments outside of school commonly lead to an especially unfortunate occurrence: fracaso escolar, failing out of school. As defined by Entorno Social, an independent publication dealing with contemporary social welfare issues, this problem is “the conclusion of a determined stage in school in which qualifications have not been met, which translates into failing to obtain required education.”
As much as 38 percent of students in Andalusia fail out of school, surpassing the national average of 30.8 percent, and very far away from the 14.9 percent average of the European Union. The problem is more extreme in places such as El Vacie, where there are children who “practically finish their schooling after their time at the primary school” explains Nieves Lobato, a comprehensive education teacher at Pedro Garfias. That means abandoning the classrooms when they are just 12 years old or little more, although education is mandatory until age 16.
Nicolás continues: “I live in a shack, but we are in the process of turning it into a house, step by step.” Only two years ago he knew a different life. Nicolás moved from Galicia, in the north of Spain, to El Vacie when his mom married a man who lives here. “I’ve gone to many different schools,” explains Nicolás, but “my favorite of all of them is Pedro Garfias.”
Pedro Garfias is a public primary school located outside of the shantytown in the north of the city. Among the school’s population of approximately 225 students, 12 come from El Vacie. Each of them is considered part of a marginalized group within society, whether they are gypsies (Spanish or Portuguese) or unemployed families. At Pedro Garfias they currently receive the help of a team of committed, specialized teachers. “This school has a long history of attending to socially disadvantaged students,” explains speech therapist María José Luque Oliva. Nicolás is one of the 12 who, according to María José, “will probably find something better someday.” For such a young age, Nicolás already “understands that the way to get out of El Vacie is through hard work.”
There are various NGOs that assist the children from El Vacie and help María José and Nieves in their work. Fundación Gota de Leche (Drop of Milk Foundation) provides daily breakfast for the children around 8:30 a.m. every morning. Today’s breakfast “was chocolate milk, cereal and also a sandwich that we could bring with us to class,” explains 11-year-old Antonio. Antonio comes from a family of 11 people who all share a house that has no hot water.
Another NGO, Movimiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL, Movement for Peace, Disarming, and Liberty), organizes school transportation for the children living in El Vacie and serves as a mediator between the family and the teachers.
Part of what makes overcoming obstacles inside of class difficult is that outside of Pedro Garfias “there is very little continuity of work… They are unable to complete their homework,” states Nieves. What’s more, there have been instances where “one day they bring their backpack [home] and with some of them, they never return,” describes María José. Progress is more easily made in areas such as math, which comes more naturally to the students than reading or writing, skills that require more practice. “My favorite class is gym,” states Antonio, who is in the process of learning the letters of the alphabet.
There are also outside pressures leading students to the point of failure. “There are girls who get married at age 15… they abandon school at that point. Outside of their context they have the potential to be completely great” students, says María José.
Attendance is also an issue that complicates the problem. The average number of children absent of the total 12 over the past year ranges from three to seven. “Right now we have two students who are regularly absent without justification,” explains Nieves. “One hasn’t come back since February, but the other is in the process of gaining a more normal attendance record.”
Both teachers find the roles of the parents very interesting in their work with the kids from El Vacie. As Nieves shares, they are “familiar with practically all of their families… Many children come from families with nine kids or more, all of whom have attended school here.” Many parents “don’t come to the school often; sometimes we have to meet with them in the streets because it asks too much of them to enter,” she adds. However, Nieves and María Jose have observed an increase of support from the families of the younger students in comparison to those who are 15 years old, for example. Most parents “think that education of their children is important. They just don’t take advantage of it well,” says María José.
“We have chosen to dedicate our work to this place…We try to improve everything every day.” And the teachers conclude with their main lesson to avoid failing out of the school: the kids need to gain worth and strength through feeling successful. Feeling that they are important.
*The names of the children interviewed were changed for this article at the request of their teachers.
