This project is one of the 2011 WISE Awards finalists.
Escuelas del Bicentenario is a private-public partnership, in which both the state and the private sector have strong participation. The National Minister of Education as well as provincial ministers have participated in the project, which is supported by more than 40 private companies. It seeks to improve the quality of education in disadvantaged public schools in Argentina. To achieve this, the program works in the following areas: District and School Management, focusing mainly on the promotion of a culture of management for permanent improvement inside the school and across the district and academic Improvement, training teachers with innovative pedagogies in Spanish, math and science.
Between 2006 and 2010, the project was implemented in 132 schools, reaching 65,000 children and more than 2,000 teachers, principals and other members of the school leading team. The program relies on a team of 215 local coordinators, local trainers and experts, delivering more than 330,000 books (258,999 of which were produced by the project in 14 different editions), 132 science labs and one math kit per child.
The government of the province of Buenos Aires decided to own the project and launched it in 109 schools, reaching 300 directive teams and 2,000 teachers. Altogether 128,000 children are benefitting from the program.
