Nivelaciones (School Preparation)

Aim

Nivelaciones is a program designed for working children who hope to attend school, but are unprepared to matriculate due to the fact that they have never been in school before or have been out of school for so long that they have fallen behind the academic levels of their peers. The fundamental goal of Nivelaciones is to ready children for school entrance exams and to teach the children appropriate classroom etiquette so that, once enrolled, they will be academically successful. Nivelaciones aims to enroll all their alumni in regular public school, where possible, and in CENIT's ESTAR when the children are too old to enroll in regular school.

Project Information

This project works with children between the ages of 6 and 15. The majority of the children in Nivelaciones have never studied in any school, so its primary objective is to prepare them to begin study. The children who participate in Nivelaciones work in the streets or the market in the morning or in the afternoon, and come to school when they are not working. Through the unique, one on one tutoring structure of Nivelaciones, these children are able to catch up academically to their peers, or at least are able to matriculate into normal schools or CENIT schools after finishing the Nivelaciones program. Also, due to the high level of individualized attention, the students learn proper school behavior and positive study habits. The Nivelaciones program increases self-esteem and confidence of each individual. Currently, around 20 children a year benefit from this program.

Volunteer Requirements

There are two Nivelaciones groups every day, in the morning and in the afternoon, and each session lasts approximately two and a half hours. The volunteer may commit to either session, and must attend every weekday. Nivelaciones volunteers also need an inexhaustible amount of patience, since this is, for most of the children, their first time in a structured, disciplined environment. They should be enthusiastic, motivated and caring, with an intermediate level of Spanish. As well as being affectionate, volunteers need to know how to be firm and set limits. The minimum time commitment to Nivelaciones is three months but longer-term volunteers are preferable since it is a one-on-one tutoring program.