On Friday, June 30, the registration process to participate in the Fundación Educacional Oportunidad contest that will reward 16 children with outstanding attendance in kindergarten education with a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in the United States ended. The drawing will be held on August 8 and will have one winner for each region of Chile.
On March 15 of this year, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad launched the campaign "Haz que despeguen" (Make them take off), whose objective was to encourage children to attend school and to make society aware of the benefits of kindergarten education.
The initiative was associated with a nationwide contest and more than 8,700 children attending kindergarten education were registered by their families for a chance to win a trip to the Kennedy Space Center in the United States during the summer vacations of 2024.
This campaign was born after observing the figures of school absenteeism in Chile. In 2022, 61% of prekindergarten and kindergarten children missed 6 weeks or more of school during the year, a disturbing figure, since repeated absenteeism is the greatest predictor of school exclusion.
Marcela Marzolo, executive director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, an organization that promotes the importance of early childhood education, highlighted the enthusiasm shown by educational teams from kindergartens and schools across the country, who from the beginning of the campaign promoted the contest among children and their parents.
"We are tremendously grateful for the support we had during the campaign in terms of dissemination of the contest, not only by the schools we work with, but also by the institutions with which we collaborate and with whom we share the purpose of early childhood education, such as Junji, the Undersecretary of Kindergarten Education, Fundación Protectora de la Infancia, among others," he said. She added that "thanks to them it was possible to amplify our message and motivate, not only the application, but also the awareness of the importance that this level of the educational trajectory has in the development and learning of children".
Let's touch the stars!
On August 8, the drawing will be held, with one winner per region of Chile to travel with his or her mother, father and/or responsible adult to Nasa. The results will be announced at a later date at www.hazquedespeguen.cl.
It is important to remember that the guardian of the winner of the prize must prove that the child has the required attendance percentage: 90% or more attendance from March 15 to June 30, 2023, justifying the absent days as stipulated in the contest rules.
