By Andrea Machain

School drop-outs and illiteracy – malnutrition and the sight of too many children working in fields and streets: these scenes are repeated over and over in Latin America. Paraguay is no exception, but María del Carmen Arriola has demonstrated that she and others can change these realities.

In Paraguay, it is estimated that some 30 percent of the population is functionally illiterate. Experts believe that one of the causes of this problem is the high drop-out rate from Paraguay's schools. Most people in Paraguay have some schooling and are not, therefore, considered "illiterate," but some studies suggest there's a hidden illiteracy rate that could be as high as 65 percent. One way of tackling this problem is by making early education more accessible and educating parents and the community about its benefits. This has been Arriola's commitment for the last twenty years.

Arriola – "Camechi" to her friends – is an attractive 50-year-old widow with two teenage children who has dedicated her life to young children. She is an energetic primary school teacher from Ca'acupe, a city of 37,000 inhabitants in La Cordillera province. She specialized in early childhood education at university in Argentina, and met and married an Argentinian. When she returned home, she realized with horror how little was done in Paraguay for children under five.

"When I came back from Argentina, I was the only preschool teacher in my city!" said Arriola, who felt strongly that early education should be a priority. This belief moved her to create the first early childhood development center in her province in 1982, and the first curriculum in Paraguay for the training of preschool teachers.

Today, thanks to the efforts of Arriola and others like her, preschool education is a reality in most state-run schools. There are 241 schools in her Cordillera province that include a preschool grade in the curriculum, 50 percent of which are run by specialized teachers. She also is proud that Cordillera ranks second, after the country's capital, Asuncion, in having the highest number of professional teachers. But the government's program targets only five-year-olds, so Arriola devised a way to serve the needs of younger children.

"Early education helps children to gain the experience of what school is all about," says Norma Amalia Pavón de López, who has been working on this project for 20 years. She is one of María del Carmen's closer collaborators and one of her 15-member coordinating team. "They learn about working with other children, and group discipline. Since early education started, primary teachers say that they have far fewer difficulties teaching children."

Early Education: Gains for a Lifetime

Thanks to early education, these children also have a chance to enjoy their childhood by learning and playing. Some of the benefits have to do with their basic needs: "Most children come to school without breakfast," says Arriola. "Their health is monitored and they receive the necessary assistance. We coordinate immunization and anti-parasitic medicines with the local health center." In the case of full-time nurseries, children also get milk and have a decent meal with meat or chicken, vegetable soup or rice – things that many of them would rarely have at home.

"The problem was that we had trained volunteer mothers who were interested in the project while their children needed nursery school, but then the mothers left when their children started primary school," Arriola said. She realized there had to be a different way of staffing the childcare houses.

The "Children's Houses"

Subsequently, she revived the project on a more manageable community level (a neighborhood or a rural settlement, known in Paraguay as "Compañías"). The project she rescued was the concept of "Mita-rogas," "Children's Houses" in Guarani, a native language of Paraguay. These generally are run by parents. They have a student or trainee teacher from the same community who is responsible for the academic aspects. The first experimental "Mita-roga" started in 1990. The idea took off, and today there are almost 150 Children's Houses in Paraguay serving more than 4,000 children.

In 1990, nursery schools for children under four served just 5 percent of the population, so Arriola decided to change her approach and concentrate on training new teachers who would have a new role in the Mita-rogas. "It was very difficult to make people understand the nature of the job," she said. Arriola developed a special program and set up her own training school. By 1996, she had graduated an army of 24 brand-new, early education teachers.

Working in a Mita-roga is an essential part of a teacher's three-year training period. During their first year, the future teachers study theory and attend some Mita-roga sessions as observers or "helpers." In the second year, they assume the entire mission of setting up a new Mita-roga. Ideally, this must be in their community. They must also "find" their own children.

Student-Teachers – A Joint Learning Experience

Daisy Vouga, 25, was studying computing systems when she got interested in what her sister – then a trainee student at a Mita-roga – was doing, and she decided to switch careers and become an early education teacher. "I had to go house-to-house, convincing parents to send their children. It wasn't too hard because some of them already knew what it was all about," she said.

The children have fun playing, but they also learn some basic principles of interaction, discipline and hygiene. "I have 31 children who come every Monday and Friday, from 12:30 until 14:30," Daisy said. "We dance, play games indoors and out, we draw and paint, cut and paste, sing children's songs. We have a snack and afterwards we make children brush their teeth. Sometimes the parents participate and help in these activities."

"The main problem is that they have absolutely no means," said Alberto Cabrera, 25. "Some children do not have shoes or warm clothes and would not come on a cold day. Others cannot afford to bring anything to eat."

Cabrera started a scheme to collect food for the children, and he built swings for his Mita-roga using old tires. Trainee-teachers like Cabrera do not work alone. They have a volunteer assistant, and they get help from a community leader who continues the project with the following year's trainee student.

Daisy also has support from members of a church committee, who, for example, have sewn aprons for her children. "They are all very supportive," she says. The student teacher is guided and supervised by teachers in the training institute.

"Each student teacher runs a nursery school in his or her community while he or she is learning through practice," says Arriola, who likes to refer to "non-scholarly" education. "In the first year, the students learn general concepts. In the second year, they start exploring reality and applying their knowledge with the children. It is like a living laboratory. "Right now, I have 25 students and we have 25 Mita-rogas running from February until October. Our goal is to keep them open the whole year."

"By the time they go to primary school, they are better prepared for what comes," says Arriola. "They are children who know how to express themselves, who learn to read and write sooner."

Loving an All-Consuming Job

Anybody involved in the project gives of himself or herself completely, says Arriola. "We do everything. When we start a new Mita-roga, there is a lot to be done, cleaning and preparing the place for the children. We gather 80 people or so, and we fix the house in just one day. It is like a cleaning party! The secret for so much enthusiasm seems to be their love for what they do."

The idea of having practice-teaching from an early stage has proven very successful with children, teachers and the community. "Children are more alert. They have definitely changed. They have lost their shyness. They ask questions. They want to know things," says Cabrera, who among his students has at least three children who work as street vendors. He is happy to see them enjoying their childhood at last.

Daisy also feels that the teaching experience has taught her how to deal with parents and the community. "Parents have started to understand how important early education is," she said. They also learn to organize themselves, which has produced several community projects, such as building new schools or health centers.

No Substitute for On-the-Job Teacher Training

All these experiences seem to create strong future teachers and a very tight team spirit among Arriola's trainee teachers. "We learn how to deal with difficult parents or a problem child," Cabrera said. "My students grew so attached to each other that they started showing their affection too intensely in fights," he recalled.

Daisy Vouga remembers when she had to console a child whose snack had been stolen by older children while he was on his way to the Mita-roga. "Most children come on their own. Their parents are out working," she said.

These cases are discussed in class and tutors give the necessary recommendations for how to deal with them. "We have a proper development plan and keep careful notes on each child's development," Daisy said. It is all connected with our studies."

"Most basic education students do not practice with preschool children while they are learning," Arriola said. "We would like to change this."

A Place in the Community

These early-learning centers can be organized in a church, club or private house. There are only two minimum requirements: that the houses are safe, and that hygienic principles are followed. Someone usually lends a club or some other place in the community. Arriola?s group does not own any of the houses. Even though parents do not pay a fee, they may contribute with voluntary donations or with their work. Some parents (most of them mothers) act as volunteer-helpers.

They are generally run by parents' associations (groups of 10 to 20 mothers and fathers) who have children in schools. "Parents' support is essential," says Arriola. "It is a guarantee of success for the program – that they feel it is theirs."

When Mita-Rogas serve as care centers, the parents hire one or two mothers to look after the children and prepare meals. "But," said Arriola, "everything is so bureaucratic! We may get coupons for milk from local authorities, but we cannot ask for the milk in advance. We have to wait until it's all consumed before making a new order. It's crazy."

Most parents are very poor, but they contribute whatever they can. On many occasions, it is the teachers and the volunteers who "fill in" the gaps with what is necessary.

When she began the Mita-roga project, Arriola had no state support and still she has none, although her work has been recognized and praised by the Ministry of Education. At present, she is trying to obtain the benefits from a government scheme that distributes free milk for children in schools, and also get help for some of the Mita-rogas from an international NGO called Plan International. Initially, UNICEF contributed by printing some of the study programs.

There is even an alternative Mita-roga (a full-time care center) for babies who are looked after by responsible adults while their mothers work. "It is very common in our country that older children in the family look after the babies when mothers go out to work," Arriola said. "If anything happens, nobody is responsible."

For this particular project, Arriola got support from UNICEF and local authorities, including health authorities. Each parent volunteers to pay a fee of US$1 per day to feed the children and help pay their caregivers. It may not seem like much, but many of these families survive on less than US$100 per month.

Arriola feels the Mita-rogas have had an important impact on the community. "People have changed and they no longer question the need for preschools," she said. "Parents have even helped to organize proper schools once they realized the benefits. "

The Biggest Enemy: Lack of Awareness

However, not everybody supports the project. "We do not have any problem with parents, but we still need to work with authorities and institutions," Arriola said. "Some don't understand the work we're doing. They don't understand the concept of children's rights."

Arriola said she feels that much more could be accomplished if local authorities, such as the governor's office, the mayor, the police, or even the education authorities, paid more attention to their work. "Much of this indifference is the result of ignorance," she said. "I need to find the right way to promote the work we are doing, yet I must be very careful not to upset anyone." Arriola even is cautious about revealing where her support comes from because she fears that there may be some jealousy or distrust from other organizations.

There are other things that Arriola would like the authorities to notice. She would like them to note that life has improved for thousands of children since the introduction of Mita-rogas. "We found all sorts of cases," she explained. "Children who had been sexually violated, ill-treated, malnourished, illnesses. Some of the children weren't even registered because their parents couldn't afford the fees. These children did not exist legally!"

In many ways, student-teachers are the link between these people, many of them poor and ignorant, and the rest of society. Aside from educating, they play many other roles: social workers, health visitors, and even legal advisors. "There are too many things to do, too many fields to cover," Arriola notes.

Asked whether they were overwhelmed by the responsibility, Daisy and Alberto said that at the beginning, they had been worried, but they stressed that they didn't feel alone. Said Daisy, "It is a team effort. We are all in this together."

Most of the children who attend the Mita-rogas come from Guarani-speaking families, so trainee teachers must be prepared to use both languages. "Children who come from families speaking only Guarani have parents who are very poor and without education," Arriola said. "In Paraguay, most people can understand Spanish, but feel more comfortable in Guarani."

There are other cultural influences. "In some areas of the country, we even have a tri-lingual situation," Arriola noted. "Along the border with Brazil, most people speak a bit of Spanish, a bit of Portuguese, and a bit of Guarani." While teachers speak to children in Guarani, they also introduce them to Spanish. "Our student-teachers are prepared," says Arriola, "they learn Guarani throughout their training."

What It Takes to Become a Nursery-School Teacher

"I am very demanding when it comes to the qualities teachers need," says Arriola, reeling off a long list. "They have to be hard-working, persistent, positive, enthusiastic, not shy, very versatile, with a good personality, and they need to understand that they have to dedicate themselves to teaching 100 percent. They also need to think globally, and to be able to act locally."

"We are not working with dead matter here, but with human beings," she stresses. "Children need to be sufficiently motivated to continue school. If a teacher is not sufficiently trained, he or she could easily frustrate a child for life and make the child hate school."

Arriola considers that the most important part of her job is planting seeds, and the most comforting reward has been to see the fruits already. She also is preparing her final thesis for her doctorate in education. "I finished my studies at the university, but I never presented my thesis," she confesses. "I don't even want to think of all the things I do!"

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Needs:

María del Carmen Arriola's team need teaching materials, food and medicine, clothes for the children, money donations and a positive lobby with local authorities.