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?Zippy?s Friends may help children get through primary education without too much stress?
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?Zippy?s Friends may help children get through primary education without too much stress?
● <B> You are in Mauritius to sign an agreement with the Centre de Formation pour Educateurs concerning the launch of the Zippy?s Friends programme in some of the schools run by the Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC). Can you tell us more about that programme?</B>
Zippy?s Friends is the main programme of the small international charity Partnership for Children whose mission is to promote the emotional well-being of children. It targets very young children from 5 to 8 years old and teaches them social and coping skills. This programme is not meant for children with difficulties but for all of them and its validity has been scientifically proven.
● <B>Why was there a need for such a programme to be set up?</B>
I believe everyone needs to be given tools and strategies to cope with difficult situations in life. Thanks to this programme, children themselves learn to deal with daily difficulties such as communicating, asking for help, dealing with friendship breakdowns, conflict change in life, bullying, the issue of death and more generally adapting to the future. Programmes generally target adolescents but we believe that doing it at a very early age enables the child to develop these skills while he/she is growing up.
● <B>Are you aware of the problems pupils may be facing in Mauritius at the moment?</B>
I have not spent much time here so it would be hard to say. However, from what people tell me, there is a lot of pressure on children to obtain good results at school from a very early age and there is no other alternative for those who are not academically gifted. This must create a lot of pressure?
● Do you think Zippy?s Friends could help solve that problem?</B>
What is certain is that this programme is one way for children to find some place to relax during the week. Because at least once a week they know they will have fun and pleasant activities at school. Another positive tool of the programme is that it is supposed to teach children coping skills so it may help them to get through their primary education without too much stress.
● <B>What do you mean by ?relax?? What type of activities will the programme include?</B>
The programme includes 24 sessions which take place once a week. Almost all of them are held in the classroom and involve activities that are fun and that demand no specific ability in reading or writing ? like role plays for instance. The activities are well within the capabilities of all children of that age. The only activity that takes place outside is the visit to the cemetery ? done only with the agreement of parents ? which children generally love. Death tends to be a taboo subject in many families because parents feel it could hurt the child to talk about it. In fact, it turns out to be very helpful to children to have a space where they can express themselves.
● <B>When will the project be introduced in BEC schools?</B>
The first ten schools that will benefit from the programme have already been identified and the programme will probably start by next February with the collaboration of our sponsors who are Médine Estate, the Mauritius Commercial Bank and the Ciel Group, after I come back to Mauritius to train teachers and potential future trainers. In fact, our local partner, the Centre de Formation, will be helping to train teachers in the future. It is currently doing the planning to be able to implement the project next year. If results prove to be successful in these schools, then the programme will certainly be extended to other BEC schools in the future.
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