Green light for a 510 million package for activities aimed at female and male students. Minister Patrizio Bianchi: "We are building a bridge for the new beginning"
A Plan for the summer of 510 million euros to allow female students to recover sociality and strengthen learning, taking advantage of workshops for the enhancement of skills (for example Italian, Mathematics, Languages), educational activities focused on music, art, sport, digital, paths on legality and sustainability, on environmental protection.
It was developed by the Ministry of Education, led by Minister Patrizio Bianchi, with the aim of using the summer months to build a bridge towards the next school year, through an offer that represents a response to the difficulties that emerged in the period of pandemic, but which also intends to enhance good practices and innovative experiences born during the emergency. The activities will be complementary and integrated with those organized by local authorities. The resources will be dedicated above all to the most fragile areas of the country, in particular the South.
The resources available, the methods of use and the objectives of the Plan were illustrated today to the schools with an operational note that represents the first step of an accompanying activity that will see the Ministry alongside managers, teachers, schools, of female students and students, families in the coming weeks and for the duration of the summer activities. A site with information gathering, a help desk dedicated to schools, an information and participatory campaign, also on social networks, with the hashtag #lascuoladestate, will be the main tools available.
“The school never stopped throughout the pandemic. She was always in contact with our girls and our boys ”, underlines Minister Patrizio Bianchi. “The health emergency has inevitably accentuated pre-existing problems, highlighted inequalities and increased fragility. This is why we wanted an accompanying plan, a bridge between this year and the next, an opportunity that allows children and young people to strengthen their learning and recover sociality ”.
The Minister continues: “We will use this summer period to build a new beginning. We will bring the school back to the center of the community, creating spaces for enhancing skills and recovering relationships. We are working together with the territories, with associations, promoting community educational pacts. We are activating a path of transformation and evolution of our education system, to give life to a more welcoming, inclusive school, based on personalized learning, an integral part of the social and territorial fabric. An 'affectionate' school, which knows how to stand side by side with our children and young people, which, starting from the most fragile, is a point of reference for the whole community and families ”.
Plan
The activities of the Plan will be divided into three phases:
- Phase I, enhancement of learning (in June): will be dedicated to reinforcing and enhancing learning through laboratory activities, outdoor school, group study, to be carried out also on the territory, with external collaborations or with the third sector.
- Phase II, recovery of sociality (July and August): the learning enhancement activities will continue which will be accompanied more intensely by aggregation and socialization activities in Campus mode (with activities related to Computing, Art, Music, Public life, Sport). There will be modules and workshops of physical education and didactic game, singing, music, art, creative writing, citizenship education, debate, education for sustainability, education for entrepreneurship, enhancement of the Italian language and writing, enhancement of scientific and digital skills (coding, media education, robotics). The activities may take place in the open spaces of schools and the territory, theaters, cinemas, museums, libraries, parks and sports centers, with the involvement of the third sector, educators and external experts;
- Phase III, Welcome (September, until the start of the lessons): connected with the previous ones, it will be the real start of the next school year. Skills enhancement activities and accompanying students to new beginnings will continue.
The schools will plan the activities within the collegial bodies and will inform the families. Participation by female students and students will be on a voluntary basis. The activities will take place in compliance with anti-Covid security measures.
Resources
The package of resources available for schools amounts to 510 million: 150 million come from the support decree, another 320 million from the PON for schools (European resources), 40 million from funding for the fight against educational poverty.
The 150 million dl support will be distributed through a decree of the Ministry, based on the number of pupils, for an average of about 18 thousand euros per school.
A dedicated 320 million PON (European resources) call will then be available on the website www.formazione.it/pianoestate, which can be used above all in areas with greater economic and social inequalities. Schools will be able to apply until 21 May. The funds, of which about 70% are destined for the southern regions, can be spent until the end of the school year 2021/2022, in the logic of a transformation plan that will start in the summer and continue during the next school year. The PON resources will also be available for peer schools (which carry out the service in a non-commercial way) and for the CPIA (Centers for adult education).
Another 40 million will derive from the fund for the expansion of the educational offer and the fight against educational poverty. These funds will be assigned to educational institutions according to the types of projects to be activated, it will be possible to collaborate with the third sector and create community educational pacts.
Accompanying measures
Within the Accounting Administrative Help Desk platform, a section will be created to provide assistance in the planning, management and reporting of summer activities: a free service (on 800 903 080) dedicated to school managers, directors of general and administrative services and administrative assistants. The Ministry will then make available to schools a tool to make crowdfunding transparent through the IDEArium platform, which will support institutions in any further search for resources by private supporters, companies and other collective bodies to finance the "Summer Plan". In collaboration with Indire, an accompanying project will be launched, also in the planning and retrieval of resources, in favor of those schools with higher drop-out rates and greater contextual difficulties. Indire will also make available a digital library with experiences of innovative teaching methodologies. On the Ministry's website there is a section dedicated to the Summer Plan (www.ificazione.it/pianoestate), where you can find all the funding initiatives made available to school institutions and useful information for students and families. It will be possible to be updated on the activities of the Plan by following the hashtag #lascuoladestate: it will be part of a dedicated campaign on the Ministry's social networks which will aim to provide service information, but also to give visibility to the activities of the schools.