Mobile School Programme

The Mobile School programme involves young volunteers from around the world working with local teachers to bring education directly to children who might not otherwise have access. The strategy involves using simple and creative means to reach children who are not served by a school system, helping them with the goal of getting them to enter into the public educational system. The programme also seeks to educate children who are already in school, reinforcing what they learn through their traditional education.

The "device" itself consists of 5 interconnected boxes on wheels. These boxes slide in and out of each other and provide for a constantly changing and transportable classroom. When fully extended, the boxes can accommodate a variety of fun and educational exercise cards. The cards vary in level of difficulty and contain a broad range of educational material. The core themes are literacy, mathematics, creative therapy, healthcare education, and human rights. Other themes may be created, such as clean water conservation and waste/pollution awareness, depending on the specific children's needs.

Strategies for teaching the children are also context-specific. One volunteer indicates that "First we begin with some physical games, to get them [the children] at least as exhausted as we are, so that they can concentrate on the school afterwards. We realized quickly that there is not only one way to work with the kids. It's interesting to see the different needs of every child and the different ways of how to work with every single pupil. On one hand, for example, you are working with only one child - nine years old, not able to count to ten - it takes about 30 minutes to teach the numbers. And on the other hand you can be involved with four kids concentrating on a mathematics competition. It's not that only the kids are getting taught, even for us there is something new every time. Every single week it is a new challenge for us trying to teach in different ways; to catch the different needs of every single child with his or her special personality and the actual mood of the day..."

Children, Education.

PVF explains that Santa Elena's school systems are overpopulated, which keeps them from reaching their full potential of quality education. As a result, children have little motivation to continue attendance, and many children drop out at a very early age. Further out of the town limits are the indigenous communities, which are served by school systems with fewer resources and which do not rely on the common teaching material of the national educational systems. This can create a population of children and adolescents who are disenfranchised from their peers. Finally, children living in zones of economically poor and landless families on the outskirts of town may lack electricity, running water, and sewage services; the children who live there are often not served by an education system.

PVF is a grassroots NGO funded entirely by financial donations made by volunteers, and run exclusively by long- and short-term volunteers. The organisation seeks to promote community empowerment by providing recreational opportunities in humanitarian, educational, and environmental fields, while valuing local knowledge and working with cultural sensitivity. This work involves facilitating the psychological, emotional, physical, cultural, social, and vocational development of children and adolescents, with the goal of allowing them to develop their potential and improve their own lives.