The CROMA program helps kids in lockdown

21/04/2020

The unusual situation we are living forces us to face new challenges, in an unusual way. One of these challenges is our children’s education, which is a field where the FAS has been working for years, through programs like CROMA 2.0.

Many educational suggestions have been circulating during these days through social networks and media to try to reduce the educational impact of the lockdown. In fact, the majority of the schools are already coordinated with parents in a remote way, through virtual platforms.

However, the available data show that unfortunately, not all families have the appropriate technological resources nor the knowledge to use them. Sheila González and Xavier Bonal, professors of the UAB Sociology department, have reported some days ago in El Periódico that “ in 2020, the digital gap (both the access and the usage) is making impossible that many children keep learning. It is a merciless (and embarrassing) indicator of inequality of educational opportunities that now we see amplified”.

In this regard, Miquel Àngel Alegre, a sociologist as well, and project manager of Jaume Bofill Foundation, recently stated that “the closure of schools will cause educational inequality because it affects more children in disadvantaged environments, who does not have such culturally rich community environments. For this reason, it is necessary to apply and anticipate effective solutions to face it.”

From the Fundació Autònoma Solidària foundation, we want to be part of those effective solutions. That is why we intend to ensure the continuity of the network that makes CROMA 2.0 exist and creates links between the UAB students and 200 children in disadvantaged environments studying in the upper primary school. We aim to ensure the educational success by the means of the coordination among the teacher body and the principals of nearly 20 primary schools and some city halls from el Vallès Orinetal. We intend to mobilize the existing CROMA 2.0 net of the academic year 2019-20, to do a follow-up  and support vulnerable children during the third quarter.  

The main goals are, firstly to assist the children during the lockdown offering emotional support, starting from the affective bond between children and the UAB students. Secondly, the program aims to help children to do homework, being coordinated with teachers and schools, through calls or video calls, tools will be provided, according to the individual needs of the children.

Regarding the program plan, the suggested actions have been structured in three stages: the first one is the diagnosis of each school to pick up information about the children's situations and designing a proposal. The second stage, which began this week, is the coordination with the schools to contact with the children to support them emotionally, academically, and electronically. Finally the third stage is an evaluation of the action taken during the lockdown.

The project is possible thanks to the work done by the technical staff of the Fundació Autònoma Solidària and the university students –who are volunteers and count on an economical aid–, as well as the collaboration of schools and children’s families. The program is cofounded by public administrations such as Consell Comarcal del Vallès Occidental, la Diputació de Barcelona o la Secretaria d’Igualtat Migracions i Ciutadania. 

To learn more about the Croma program, contact fas.croma@uab.cat