Mathew’s mother has only finished a few years of elementary school. She is a single mother and has to move quite often with Mathew and his siblings. When he was about to go to the primary school for the first time, all the teachers from the People in Need preschool club that Mathew attended were nervous. How would the family cope with the start of school?
After some time, his mother asked us to tutor him – to help him with learning. He did not fit well in the school. The other kids were mocking him for his different appearance and poverty. Even though he was looking forward to going to school at first, he stopped liking it after a while. Soon he started to have stomach aches because of huge stress and as a consequence, the number of his absences was increasing.
We started tutoring Mathew at the end of October. Our volunteer was learning with him every week for two hours. The tutoring coordinator was in regular contact with the school and we discussed his situation in the collective with his class teacher.
Mathew went to an open-air school trip in May. He suddenly started talking about his classmates as friends. At the end of the first year, he got following evaluation from the teacher: “Keep up the good work! Matthew is really getting better. He is more self-confident, active and he is not scared of making mistakes anymore. The classmates accepted him and the relationships have improved a lot.”
In the tutoring program, we work with children from poor and socially endangered families who lack the right care. But with our help, they can stay at school to get a chance for success in life.
Illustrative photo
