In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), La Salle Foundation, together with the Lasallian NGOs of the ARLEP District — PROYDE, PROIDE, PROIDEBA, PROEGA, and SOPRO — is promoting the campaign “Back to School, Back to Smile”, highlighting the need to reduce inequalities (SDG 10) and to commit to peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16).
‘This year’s theme invites students to rediscover school as a place of growth, connection, creativity and participation,’ reads the foundation’s website, while offering a guide in four languages created for educators, with the aim of ‘helping them carry out meaningful, engaging and reflective activities with the children and youth they work with every day.’
Social transformation
In this regard, by ‘providing practical tools and activities that educators can incorporate into their Education for Social Transformation programs, classes and initiatives, as well as other educational activities within your school or education centre,’ La Salle Foundation seeks to encourage dialogue and reflection on key issues related to the Rights of the Child, as well as the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.
Certainly, ‘returning to school’ is a call for inclusion to close the gaps of inequality. Together, we can ensure that children and youth who have been excluded from education or who have had to leave school for various reasons, such as economic poverty, war, forced migration, climate change and socio-environmental disasters, can return to the classroom to ‘smile again’.
In this way, the campaign recognises that, from a comprehensive educational perspective, the role of teachers and so many people committed to education – including family members – goes beyond academic training and is therefore not unrelated to the formation of citizens who are aware of their responsibility in the world.
To make this possible, the campaign guide includes resources for educators and specific activities for children aged 6 to 10, 10 to 13, and youth and adolescents over 13.
Download HERE the ‘Back to School, Back to Smile’ Campaign Activity Pack.