The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) addresses migration in the classrooms of Uruguay by promoting respect for interculturality, tolerance and human rights through the artistic project ‘Walls that unite’.
The initiative, developed together with the National Directorate of Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has impacted hundreds of children since 2021, girls and young people from cities such as Paysandú, Artigas, Río Branco, Chuy or Rivera, located on the border with Brazil and Argentina, from where a large number of migrant population is received.
Through art workshops and teacher training in artistic pedagogy, each school year ‘Walls that unite’ concludes with the collective creation of a mural created by the participants in a strategic point of the city, in which they express their learning and experiences about migration from an approach based on values such as tolerance, respect and coexistence.
“Uruguay is receiving immigrants from the region and this demographic phenomenon, in a country that used to expel more population than it received, challenges educational institutions and has a greater impact on border towns,” said Macarena Llauradó, permanent representative. of the OEI in Uruguay.
By 2025, the project is expected to continue after this year’s edition which, for the first time, has included educational centers in the country’s capital, Montevideo, as well as towns on the border with Argentina, impacting nearly 400 children. girls and young people in school.