A project to tackle educational poverty in the suburbs was presented in Rome today
A bridge between schools and the local area, between skills and opportunities, between the younger generations and the community’s educational resources. This is taking shape in the Roman neighbourhood of San Basilio with Il P.O.N.T.E. – Equal Opportunities in Educational Communities, the project selected by Con i Bambini through the Organizziamo la Speranza initiative, as part of the Fund to Combat Child Educational Poverty.
Today, Thursday 29 October, at 10.30 am, at the Mahatma Gandhi Comprehensive School, at 59 Via Fabriano, the official launch of the project will take place. The project is led by the Antropos Social Cooperative together with a network of 43 local partners, including the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
The initiative stems from a desire to strengthen educational opportunities in outlying areas, making the most of the resources already present in the local area and forging new alliances between schools, families, institutions and social organisations. It represents an investment in communities’ capacity to support young people’s development, tackle inequalities and encourage participation.
A community that educates, a region that grows
The launch brings together representatives from institutions, the education sector and the third sector for a joint discussion on strategies to tackle educational poverty. The proceedings were opened by Maria Teresa Bellucci, Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Policies, with Marco Rossi-Doria, President of Con i Bambini, acting as moderator. This will be followed by speeches from Barbara Funari, Councillor for Social Policies and Health for Roma Capitale, Massimiliano Umberti, President of Rome’s 4th Municipal District, and Alessandro Battilocchio, Chair of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the Suburbs. The discussion on combating educational poverty will feature Giorgio Righetti, Director-General of ACRI; Renato Sampogna, senior official at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies; and Francesca Danese, spokesperson for the Lazio Third Sector Forum.
The session dedicated to the educational community features Marco Caporale, representative of the Antropos Social Cooperative, Marcello Di Pasquale, headteacher of the Mahatma Gandhi Comprehensive School, and Paolo Lozzi, headteacher of the Ennio Morricone Comprehensive School and coordinator of the Rome IV Municipal District School Network.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 12 noon, followed by a tour of the project’s premises.
Digital skills to create new opportunities
The participation of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale forms part of a 25-year journey dedicated to social innovation and educational inclusion, with a particular focus on local communities and individuals at risk of being marginalised by technological change. Through active methodologies, workshops and collaborative learning programmes, the Foundation promotes a creative and informed relationship with technology, highlighting digital skills as tools for expression, participation and personal growth. Within the Il P.O.N.T.E. project, this initiative contributes to the creation of an open educational environment where children and young people can experiment, discover their own abilities and develop new skills alongside their peers and adult mentors.
The afternoon of the launch, until 4.00 pm, is dedicated to workshops and activities for children, organised by the project partners. The Fondazione Mondo Digitale is also taking part with a workshop dedicated to creative learning through technology.
The launch of the project represents a new opportunity to strengthen the role of schools as educational hubs within the community and to transform collaboration between organisations into concrete opportunities for the younger generation.
To follow the project
The activities and developments of P.O.N.T.E. are documented on the dedicated blog and via social media channels on Instagram and Facebook.
