Fundación Alberto Baillères

Five schools in Kanasín, Yucatan, sign social commitment to improve their environments

The signing took place at the handover of materials for the appropriation and improvement of the educational habitat.

The education communities voluntarily commit to participating in transforming their spaces.

Cinco escuelas de Kanasín, Yucatán, firman su compromiso social para mejorar sus entornos

From January 19 to 20, Alberto Baillères Foundation collaborators visited five education communities in the municipality of Kanasín, Yucatan, to deliver various materials that will be used to improve the schools' facilities and green areas. These communities are Secundaria Técnica 71 and Secundaria Técnica 81 (Technical Secondary Schools), which share the same building in alternating shifts; Primaria José Vasconcelos (Primary School) and Primaria Víctor Manuel Martínez Herrera (Primary School), which also share a building during different shifts; and Primaria América (Primary School). In other words, these are five schools spread out across three campuses.

The materials are provided with the expectation that the entire community will commit to working together to improve school spaces on the basis of existing needs. For this reason, in addition to the signing of the handover document by the Foundation and the authorities, students, educators, and parents also voluntarily signed a social commitment to participate in care and maintenance work on behalf of the common good. One example of these activities is the collaborative design of gardens in primary schools with the accompaniment of a landscape gardener.

At each of the three handover events (one per campus) and the signing of the social commitment, the rostrum was taken by Rosy Gluyas, Director General of the Alberto Baillères Foundation; authorities from the Secretariat of Education of the Government of the State of Yucatan (SEGEY); municipal authorities (Mayor Edwin Bojórquez or, on his behalf, Councilman Aaron Solís); as well as principals, supervisors, and representatives of parents from each school. This demonstrates how joining forces between different actors is essential for activating the co-creation of dignified and inclusive spaces conducive to integral development.

At the end of the event, Rosy Gluyas asked members of each education community to take the microphone and express their ideas on how they could become involved in improving their environments. These exercises gave a voice to students, parents, and educators, who through dialogue were able to realize that it is possible to begin a gradual process to address many of the education community’s needs if the community itself organizes and gets to work building habitats that are more appropriate for all.

It should be noted that on January 19, at the event held at Secundaria Ténica 71 and Secundaria Técnica 81 (Technical Secondary Schools), which share a building, Yucatan Education Secretary Liborio Vidal Aguilar was present. Secretary Vidal distributed equipment kits as part of “Mejora tu Secu,” (Improve Your Secondary School), a government program.

The five abovementioned schools are part of the same habitat of the school complex that the Alberto Baillères Foundation is building in Kanasín, which will consist of a secondary school and technical upper secondary school. Through these actions, the community of this Yucatan municipality appropriates educational spaces as a common good shared by all for the benefit of current and future generations of students.