Service-learning activities in secondary schools seek to integrate community service into education. It is an educational proposal that combines learning processes and service to the community in a single project. The initiatives are based on the student’s learning about the real needs of their environment, human rights, or the culture of peace to enrich their educational experience, in addition to encouraging them to become socially involved and contribute to the common good of the communities. It is carried out during the ESO state, and UNESCO describes it as a pedagogy with very positive effects since it is based on cooperation and solidarity, developing the capacities of students and teachers to work together and transform the world.
The Eyes of the world Foundation, within the framework of its Education for Development strategy, participates in learning and service projects, both working directly with students and collaborating with other entities, such as the organization Taller de Cinema, in the React Project. The Foundation’s participation in the service-learning initiatives involves raising awareness among students about the importance of vision and the existing differences in eye care in the most vulnerable areas of the world and promoting the involvement of girls and boys so they can become speakers in defense of the universal right to vision. Thus, contributing to the eradication of preventable blindness.
An example of this type of collaboration occurred in the 2021-2022 academic year with students from three centers in Catalonia: INS Quatre Cantons, INS de Collbató, and Lestonnac school. In the 2022-2023 academic year, the INS Llavaneres and INS Tiana also participated in this project. The students chose Eyes of the world to delve into the fight against preventable blindness, seek information, and make a short film to present the cause and help raise awareness. To this end, the Foundation visited the centers, explained the activities and work contexts, and made the students complicit in the awareness-raising and dissemination actions for the cause. Some of the audiovisual clips made by these students can be seen here.
In addition, during the 2022-2023 school year, the 3rd ESO students of the IES Peñaflorida in Donostia also received a visit from three professionals collaborating with the Foundation who taught the students key concepts about universal ophthalmological care and the importance of having good eye health. Subsequently, the students carried out an awareness campaign aimed at their classmates, using the communication resources at their disposal: information stand, public address systems, posters, brochures, etc.
The Foundation will continue to expand and participate, to the extent of its possibilities, in this type of activity. The combination of academic learning, social awareness, and solidarity implication paints a new and enriching future.
