Education
Our educational program has four levels: day care center, grammar school, technical education and adult literacy.
All levels are supported by christian moral values for daily life.There are 98 teachers in the educational programs.
Day Care Center
The smallest members of the family enjoy a part of each day with women prepared to give them love, care and stimulation from their first year of life. Emphasis is placed on intellectual, motor, language and social development.To achieve these varied activities using didactic materials made in the WBC shops are planned and carried out.
Grammar School
The Working Boys' Center operates four grammar schools (two morning and two afternoon), for the intellectual and creative development of children. The school schedules are geared to the specific needs of working children. The children are taught are, music, library science, physical education, health and religion in special classes apart from their regular school day.
There are also programs for children with special needs and for mentally challenged youngsters.Special importance is given to creativity in an environment of love and confidence. All is directed to the integral development of the child.
Technical Education
Technical education is a four year course: one year of upgrading mathematical and language skills followed by three years of basic technical skills in the areas of:
auto-mechanics, industrial mechanics, carpentry, cosmetology, industrial sewing, plumbing, baking and sales and marketing skills.This is a dual apprentice system of “classroom-shop” training. The boy students practice their profession in shops around the city by day and receive instruction in theory and culture each
night. The girls, on the other hand, given the cultural reality, study all day.Students are helped by a vocational orientation office which helps them with periodic visits to their work places and ongoing contact with business and shops that might offer jobs. This office also helps to place graduates in good paying jobs.
Adult Literacy
The adult literacy program consists of two years of basic literacy followed by technical education in the areas of toy making, furniture carpentry, plumbing, sewing, baking, metal carpentry, and auto-mechanics.Adults and young people who have finished grammar school also have access to a special course that prepares them to be health promoters (equivalent to nurses' aids).
After the completion of the technical education course, they may earn a technical high school degree in the local Jesuit run program, IRFEYAL.
THE FINE ART OF BAKING
Franklin Rey, WBC Graduate 1998
“I joined the Center with my mother and my 5 brothers and sisters in 1979. Although I was a teenager, in many ways I was the “father” of the family. What did the Center do for me? A great deal. Here in the Center I was educated, grew as an integral person, and came to understand the importance of Moral Values which are being lost in our society. In the Center I met my wife, who is my right arm, and the light of my life, with whom I have two beautiful children. The Center gave me the opportunity to study and graduate in the art of baking.
Today I work in the “Modern Bakery Group” as a department head and Commercial Evaluator of product development. I travel throughout Ecuador and South America and share my knowledge acquired in the Working Boys' Center.”