Tackling school dropout rates

Ecatepec de Morelos is one of the largest and most violent municipalities in Mexico with  high school dropout rates and low school graduation rates leading to very few children progressing on to college and university. With high rates of social violence and illegal drug trafficking this is one of the most dangerous areas near Mexico City and children are surrounded by high levels of urban poverty with many dropping out of school to help earn money for their family. 

Ulises is a maths, languages and science teacher at a community centre in Ecatepec de Morelos working specifically with children aged 9-12 to provide them with the right skills and tools to improve their chances of staying in long-term education. Ulises believes that teaching children how to solve problems is a vital element of their education and this cannot always be taught just through the core academic subjects. He needed another way. 

Implementing some creative play

Ulises has always loved football and has created a programme that combines scientific, mathematical and verbal skills development with football skills training. But like many other teachers around the world Ulises had to modify his programme so children could still be taught during the pandemic.

He took his teaching online with football coaches taking children through their drills while applying some maths and verbal basic terms to solve problems and questions related to academic topics. Children were also given a mixture of weekly football and academic assignments to complete and monthly tasks to write essays about their life goals to help them think about what their future might look like if they kept studying. 

Aiming for the top division

The programme has been designed to help children to be more physically active, achieve better grades, reach their next academic level and strive to reach college. Initially, 20 boys and girls started the programme but Ulises and his team are aiming to have 80 children enrolled over the coming months. Ulises and his team have already seen improvements in the children’s academic scores and believe this is putting them on the right path for achieving good academic scores during their middle school studies. 

Ultimately, Ulises and his team are giving children a worthwhile reason to stay in school, continue with their studies and help them in their future school journey.