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Under a one year pilot program in 2007, Fabretto introduced SAT, a rural high school program, to 25 remote Nicaraguan communities in 2007. This effort effectively brought high school instruction to young people who otherwise would never have had the chance to attend secondary school. As a six year program, full implementation will happen by 2012. By then, we expect to serve over 1,000 students annually with the SAT curriculum.
SAT, or Rural Tutorial Learning System in English, is operated and licensed by FUNDAEC, The Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences. FUNDAEC is an NGO dedicated to fostering processes of learning, training, and development in rural areas. Fabretto licenses the use of the SAT curriculum from FUNDAEC and both organizations are working together for initial implementation in Nicaragua.
In SAT, students are assigned to a tutor for the six program years needed for full certificate completion. SAT's objectives include:
- Providing access to secondary school for isolated communities
- Finding a role for science, technology and education in the development of rural areas
- Enhancing a community's human resources, so it can face developmental challenges independently
- Training effective leaders
- Fostering the integration of education, work and the development of the community.
SAT meets these objectives by 1) Integrating areas of knowledge with local capacities; 2) Including the study of science, reading, writing, mathematics, technology, communications, and community service; and 3) Encouraging universal human values in the building of a better local society.
By design, SAT promotes rural development by providing students with the technical training that they will need to improve agricultural practices for their families and their communities. Essentially, SAT is a vocational high school program with great emphasis placed on the development of technical skills. Since this will eventually generate new economic opportunities, SAT also helps to reduce the migration of young people from the rural areas to the already over-crowded cities. SAT students are being equipped with the tools and knowledge to implement small-scale agriculturally productive projects to generate increased income.
The great advantage of SAT is that it is designed to meet the constraints of rural life. For example, the use of lightweight workbooks rather than texts lessens the load of students who walk as much as an hour to attend class. Course topics are relevant to rural concerns, such as animal husbandry for the study of science. Practical teaching occurs through projects like small plot farming that benefit the local community.
Fabretto's first year 2007 SAT enrollment stood at 258 and reflected not only students moving into sixth grade from the 2006 Fabretto program, but also other students, mostly in their late teens and early twenties, who decided to take advantage of this opportunity to return to school. 2008 enrollment stands at 371 inclusive of the second year SAT students and a new first year class.
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The Fabretto Children's Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, tax ID #36-3894824.
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