Responding and Imagining School Theatre in Buenos Aires

By: Erica Isabel Pazur*

SCHOOL THEATRE

The ‘School Theater' program founded by Roberto Vega and coordinated by Paula Ferrer and Cristian Vélez is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the public primary schools of the city of Buenos Aires. This celebration finds us in the midst of a change of paradigm. Present in more than 190 schools, the program is characterized by having pedagogical assistants working in pairs with grade teachers. The inclusion of the arts in the school curriculum (2005) offers since then two other modalities of artistic education in the city: 'Schools intensified in Art' (2005) and 'Extended Day’ schools (2016). 

The National Education Law  (2006) has ensured the instruction of at least two arts in primary schools throughout the country. The Buenos Aires metropolitan area has even incorporated a project that includes four arts (dance, music, theatre and visuals) in double-shift primary schools (2009). An area strongly linked to the origin of our National Theater, the circus arts, has not yet been incorporated. 

While the arts have conquered their rightful place in schools, the State has not been able to guarantee basic services or the eradication of micro-dumps in vulnerable neighbourhoods. Nor has it been able to guarantee the quality of education, either because of the lack of pedagogical training for challenging contexts, the presence of a high percentage of illiterate children in third grade (20%) and practices that attempt to sugarcoat inclusion statistics, such as classifying persistently absent children as pupils. These practices do not allow the State to have accurate data on the school career of each child in order to guarantee their rights.

 THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND SCHOOLS

The National State took quick measures in the face of the COVID-19 crisis: closing borders and schools, compulsory quarantine, guaranteeing food. COVID-19 has spread strongly, also in the vulnerable neighbourhoods of the capital (55 in total), and has killed a social worker of the 31st neighbourhood, Ramona Medina, who denounced the lack of water. The Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires is trying to prevent this situation from being replicated in the vulnerable neighbourhoods of the Province (more than 1700). Apart from Covid, there are also many cases of dengue fever. 

The public school has shifted from its academic role to one of solidarity, as it does in every crisis. It delivers bags of goods to families in need and conducts surveys on the presence of electronic devices and internet connectivity in homes. 

School contexts are varied - from students with access to virtual communication, to more complicated cases without connectivity due to socio-economic vulnerability - pedagogical continuity is difficult.

In an informal survey conducted among teachers and pupils, the following requirements surfaced to enable education in the current situation from the teachers’ point of view:

  • Dignified living conditions: running water, light and gas

  • Free WIFI in vulnerable neighborhoods 

  • Distribution of computers, in addition to food

  • Training in virtual schooling / platforms for teachers

  • An official learning platform, because currently, the means of communication vary by school: 

    • Blog and e-mails: Low response rates for arts teachers (better for grade teachers)

    • Edmodo, Zoom or Meet: offer more direct communication and participation is growing

    • Whatsapp: Seems the most efficient tool in vulnerable contexts that only have a cell phone with data

  • The vital need to return to school for children who do not have a family support network and the request for an emergency measure for children living in situations of violence 

At the same time, the teachers observed a number of positive factors in the current crisis:

  • Many children are happy to spend more time with their families

  • Families have a more active role and children greater autonomy

  • The solidarity that has always been in schools is now more evident

  • Teachers are adapting their teaching methods in the face of change

The majority of the children surveyed said that they miss school because they miss talking to their friends in person, being together and playing with them. However, they value being at home with their family, staying in pajamas, sleeping, having more free time and playtime.

All these observations are in line with what was expressed at the Conference between our Minister of Education and Francesco Tonucci. 

IMAGINING THE RETURN TO SCHOOL

After 60 days, the quarantine has been extended for two more weeks, in the capital and the metropolitan area where the cases are concentrated. Schools are expected to reopen in September (spring in the southern hemisphere). 

Will we come back achieving a balance between social equality and economic sustainability? Will we take into account the needs of children? Will we value teachers’ health as a requirement for a sustainable future?

The arts can serve as a tool to transit the exit of isolation in an integral way and to self-soothe through the expression of our humanity. It is my greatest wish for navigating these waters.

Many thanks to the coordinators and teachers of the ‘School Theatre’ program, as well as to the teachers, friends and students that participated in the survey. 

*Erica Isabel Pazur

Erica Isabel Pazur is a drama teacher in four primary schools in the City of Buenos Aires and 15 years of experience in primary, secondary and recovery schools in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.  She has worked, also in Austria conducting theatre workshops in primary and secondary schools in Tyrol, seminars for young refugees in Salzburg (Save the child) and schools in Linz and Vienna always with the auspices of the Argentinean Ministry of Culture.