Scope wants to break down taboos related to Sainte-Croix and its inhabitants. And the first sector to be tackled in order to achieve this objective is the education sector. Several meetings have been held since last July, the last one about two weeks ago getting together representatives of the ministry of Education, members of the Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC), school staff and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The aim was to pinpoint the various problems of schools in this region and to try and find ways of improving performances.

It is true that pupils going to those schools tend to come from underprivileged areas and broken families. ?Many of them suffer from a lack of educational material- and even of food. This inevitably affects their performance at school,? concluded the members of Scope. The social problems affecting the region like drugs and alcohol abuse and the general feeling of insecurity which exists there also have an impact on the motivation of pupils as well as on the atmosphere at school. Parents tend to neglect their children and do not provide any support for them. In fact, they have no control over them and sometimes take out their frustration on teachers.

It also appears that teachers themselves are partly responsible for the lack of efficiency in schools. In fact, they are not equipped or prepared to face such difficult cases. As a result they are often victims of an absence of motivation and feel discouraged about their jobs.

However such ?general problems? are those of all children in this region but it appears that one school succeeds where others tend to fail. There has been a clear and regular improvement in the performance of the Ecole Père Laval RCA between 1994 and 2005 while pupils there have the same sociological profile as all others.

In fact, members of Scope concluded that ?government schools are victims of their reputation as low achievers?. Moreover, the ?reading corners? and the excellent habit of systematically praising children who do something good or who succeed in any field seem to be among the reasons for the Ecole Pere Laval?s relative success.

The creation of the Federation of Parent-Teachers Associations (FPTA) of the various schools of the region is seen as a way of giving more weight to their claims. ?The FTPA has a huge job to do with these parents so that they become less aggressive towards teachers and encourage their children to consider their teachers as friends rather than as opponents,? said its members. Likewise, the need for a ?parents? school? to discuss issues related to school life is being felt in the region.

As far as pupils themselves are concerned, the idea of ?reading corners? has been identified as a way of improving their performance, as well as the use of fun and interactive methods to pass on knowledge as well as life skills. ?The pedagogy used as well as the methods of assessment should be better adapted to the reality of children in the region, at least at a certain level of their education, instead of imposing a uniform pedagogy that does not take their own history into account,? recommended members of the platform.