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SOURCING & SUPPLY CHAIN
WORLD FOOTWEAR | MAY/JUNE 2012
W
hen classes resumed after the Easter holidays
on April 12, around 1.3 million children in El
Salvador went back to school with a special
spring in their step. Each had received a pair of
new school shoes, made locally by skilled footwear
manufacturers from high-quality materials, as part of a state
package to help struggling families.
After a successful launch of the concept in 2010 and 2011,
the Salvadoran government decided to repeat the School
Package project this year. It offered a collection of clothing and
materials, as well as the shoes, entirely free of charge to all
children attending state-run centres of education between the
stages of pre-school and ninth grade.
In 2004, the government began working on a new
national education plan, laying out what changes it wanted
to make by 2021, the year in which the Central American
country will celebrate the bi-centenary of its independence
from Spain. In the most recent Education Index that the
United Nations publishes, based on adult literacy rates and
the proportion of children attending school, El Salvador’s
position is disappointing, 115 out of 179 countries and the
government is determined to make progress. It quickly
came to the conclusion that the only way to make the plan
work was to encourage families to send their children to
school and the aim of the School Package is to help parents
do this without suffering too painful an impact on tight
family budgets. Each package contains two uniforms for
each child, writing materials and, of course, shoes and is
calculated to be worth around $50 per student.
Help for families
A woman from the town of San Esteban Catarina, in the
department of San Vicente in central El Salvador, Clara Luz
Cornejo, has spoken to the country’s ministry of education
about the difference the initiative has made. As well as her
own four children, Ms Cornejo is also responsible for making
sure four of her own younger siblings and three nephews
The government in El Salvador has
included well made leather shoes in a
package of goods it has put together to
encourage children to attend school.
Parents, children and teachers gather in San Salvador to view
the products included in the School Package for 2012.
CREDIT: SALVADORAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
School shoes for all