Avoid racism and xenophobia from school. This is the objective of the workshop held yesterday at the Infant and Primary School (CEIP) Salamanca, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, included in the Tenerife vive Diversidad strategic framework with support from the Juntas collective in the same direction. A total of 44 children between the ages of 10 and 12 – the older ones, who are in 5th and 6th grade – receive the knowledge of professionals Noemí and Víctor Rojas, members of the Juntas collective. It is time to report for two hours in the library of a center that brings together 196 students of 15 different nationalities – and 17 teachers – about racism linked to social networks that children handle with ease.
Very attentive to the boys are their tutors, Reyes San Martín and Marimar Pérez, the center’s secretary, Silvia Linares, and the young director, David Cedrés Padrón, who has been the director since this course.
The origin
Cedrés explains: «A mother told us that a friend could offer us interesting projects from the University of La Laguna. Among others, this one, which interested us immediately». It is the first CEIP to sign the agreement with the General Foundation of the ULL to participate in the initiative. And the second educational center on the island after IES El Médano. Yesterday’s is the second intervention after last week with children from 8 to 10 years old entitled Participatory Intercultural Approach. This workshop was about the richness of building all together and the power of those conclusions. There will be a third, starting in January with the children of First and Second. In the future, because “you have to go slowly”, they will be open to teachers, families and the entire educational community. David integrates into it “everyone who works here.”
The workshop, or rather the workshops, make sense when there are kids from European countries (Spain, Bosnia-Herzgovina and Russia), African (Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Morocco), Latin American (Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina), and Asia (Philippines). From four continents.
Everyone is still very attentive to how the activity develops. They have to continue the initial proposal of Víctor Rojas Barros (teacher and intercultural mediator) and Noemí Juanes Giménez (anthropologist). Both are Juntas professionals in the same direction. They tell the story of two children, Yaiza, in Switzerland, and Mussa, in Senegal, and the children develop it however they understand. A way to escape stereotypes and prejudices and their consequences: rumors, hoaxes and misinformation on the Internet, a breeding ground for cyberracism.
Everything is scripted. The couple, boy and girl, the themes or the strategy in front of the audience, whether it is children, youth or adults. They have already been to the south, in Granadilla or Arona and in specific places where multiculturalism prevails, such as El Médano or Cabo Banco. They propose interculturality as a driving force. Director Cedrés explains it in a double way: «Integration with Canary Islands like welcome but pride in their roots. Both ideas come together.” Juntos also provides “informational welcome folders to families. In English and with the basics, something that has been shown to be very effective on a day-to-day basis”.
The families
The workshops have been “very well received by a particularly receptive student body because they master technology in a context where diversity prevails.” There is also a good reception from families. The center does not allow the use of mobile phones. For this reason, Cedrés estimates, “the responsibility for managing these mobiles belongs to the families who ask us for help and to whom we provide tools.” Like a new number, 017, which informs about cybersecurity at the state level. From excessive use of the screen to parental mediation or cyberbullying.
David confirms that “there are families with problems in the center and for them we have resources that are partly managed by the Santa Cruz City Council. All with the idea of offering an inclusive and common public service for all. This is the understanding of last week’s solidarity and sustainable flea market that collected toys and sports equipment. The 5th and 6th grade students organized another in the neighborhood with this material at a maximum of 1 or 2 euros. The proceeds go to the Teach to Learn (EPA) project, which proposes the creation of a school cooperative
The students
María is Russian, she is 10 years old, she has been on the Island for 8 years and was elected by her classmates as a representative of the students in the School Council of the center. «Despite the fact that the war in Ukraine is always there, she has been treated with absolute naturalness and the utmost respect by classmates, teachers and the community. She is super integrated ». This is corroborated by the interested party accompanied by Isabella (four years in Tenerife), and Flavia (seven years of residence), both Venezuelans, and Irineo, born in Las Caletillas (Candelaria). They want to be singers or actresses, while the canary is not sure. The big man Makan is from Mali, he has been on the Island for a year and a half and is in his second year here. He says: «I arrived first at La Gomera and then at Tenerife. I did not speak a word of Spanish and now I do thanks to my colleagues ». He wants to be a footballer. Everyone loves the workshop and considers that they learn. A recent example. Only two months ago, Evián, a Cuban, arrived on the island and at the CEIP, which everyone helps to integrate, but especially Irineo and his friends: Alesandro, Luis, Eloy, … They are all very clear about what integration of the new and different. In a very short time it ceases to be.
The project
The strategy for the coexistence of residents on the Island regardless of community, religion or age. The objective of a strategy that has already passed through Granadilla, Arona or Los Silos and reaches Santa Cruz. CEIP Salamanca students join the more than 1,200 people from the educational community from 19 centers who have received training to promote interculturality,
Center
The CEIP Salamanca belongs to the Centro-Ifara district and its main center is the IES Teobaldo Power. The area of influence goes from the Barrio Nuevo to La Rambla passing through Uruguay and Salamanca. Philosophy pursues «integral development» with the promotion of tolerance and respect for beliefs, opinions, tendencies, creeds, orientations and identities. A community with a marked intercultural character. “Our great diversity is a source of pride and we consider it a source of great wealth”the director points out. He adds: “We work to create fertile land together with families. A rich and diverse land where our students can grow, express themselves and develop; human beings with their own criteria, conscience and critical spirit». Nothing better for that than an anti-racist workshop.
