GRADUATION: CELEBRATING THE DIGNITY OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM IN SABANA YEGUA (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
During the Summer, 45 children
graduated from the preschool programs in La Sagrada Familia Parish. We celebrated
a formal graduation ceremony (even though the children are very young) to
recognize the participation of these kids in the program and their educational
advances during the last year, and also to bid them farewell, since in September
they will move on to primary school. Our children’s preschool program is
conducted at three sites throughout the parish (in the towns of Sabana Yegua,
El Ganadero and Los Negros) and it provides initial education for 180 children,
from two to five years of age. The little ones go daily to the centers, where
they receive education, a nutritional balanced diet (breakfast and lunch) and
medical monitoring. Importantly, the preschool program also requires the active
participation of their parents. This involvement of the parents includes not
just getting the children to and from the school, but also attending meetings
and talks about subjects like health and nutrition.
The children in this program of preschool
childcare come from families of scarce means who live in marginal towns and
settlements within the parish. The poverty and need in which these families
find themselves seems at times to strip away their dignity. To conduct a well-organized,
formal graduation was a way to restore a bit this dignity, at times lost due to
their adversities. The parents came to the graduation dressed elegantly and
participated with pride in the different activities, while the children were showing
off proudly all of their advances. We hope that these children grow with
confidence and the dignity necessary to be good men and women in our society.
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