Make children strong!

Access to a good education is a key factor in the personal development of every one of us and therefore in our participation in society. However, it is not always the case that children can be equipped with the tools they need to keep up in their first years at school. And yet that is a time that is crucial to their further development. Just about all pupils are very enthusiastic when they start school. However, scenes like the following often occur: A child wants to take a worksheet out of his or her satchel, but can’t find it because everything’s in a jumble in it. While he or she is frantically searching for the sheet, the other children are already busy with the exercises. Or there are children who have just moved to Einbeck and speak hardly any German. They can’t talk with the others and withdraw into their shell.

Since 2017, the “Make children strong!" project organized by the Diakonie, the social welfare organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, has helped pupils in the first and second grades at Einbeck’s three primary schools. The AKB Foundation has supported this project from the outset. Teachers can supervise children in small groups and in an atmosphere where there is no pressure on them to achieve and where they can play, read aloud, draw or hold conversations. However, they also provide assistance by fostering the structures the children need to learn, such as keeping their satchel tidy or arranging their worksheets in an orderly way. As a result, it is possible to give a helping hand to children who would otherwise be left behind and might not be able to catch up in their first years at school.