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and nieces make it to school on time and looking
presentable; eleven children in all. “Our work is on the
land,” she said, “and we have always worked hard.
Sometimes, when we have a bad winter, the crops (corn
and beans) are no use and we lose a lot, but we have
always done whatever we could to make sure the children
had what they needed for school. Just for my own four
children, it was easily a couple of hundred dollars for shoes,
uniforms and exercise books. So I think the School Package
idea is a great help.”
Where the money goes
With a total investment of $75 million, another aspect of
the schools initiative is that local manufacturing firms should
benefit if possible. The spend breaks down as $18.6 million
in fabric for the uniforms, $24.1 million for finished garment
manufacture, $9.5 million for equipment for children to use
in the classroom and $18.5 million for shoes. An order of
1.3 million pairs of leather shoes for schoolchildren has
certainly been a fillip to footwear manufacturers across the
country. Government figures say more than 5,000
businesses have been involved in putting the 2012 package
together, but that more than 70% of these are artisans,
craftspeople who work in their homes using traditional
methods and materials. More than 1,300 of them are
micro-enterprises, 141 are small businesses and only
medium-sized manufacturers. Around 240 of the
businesses involved are footwear manufacturers, spread
throughout El Salvador; they will share the $18.5 million that
the education ministry has devoted to shoes out of the
overall School Package budget.
Shoe businesses saved
One of the footwear manufacturers involved, Gustavo
Romero, has gone so far as to say that the school shoes
project has saved his business. “We had a business model
that, for a variety of reasons, was finished,” he told
Salvadoran media at the end of the 2012 programme. “So
we set up an association of 142 small and micro-enterprises,
and there are now 10 others who want to join us.”
Mr Romero went on to say that the education ministry
had provided valuable support to help these small players
work their way through the administrative process that is
required for participating companies. “We’ve been given the
role of delivering the shoes to schools in parts of El Salvador
that are hard to reach,” the footwear manufacturer
continued, “and there are now 88 different schools that we
are contracted to work with. We’ve been able to offer work
to young people who were unemployed and there are now
35 people working in our factory.”
Work for skilled craftsmen and women, the creation of
employment for young people and good quality shoes on
the feet of children from poor families combine to make this
idea seem like money very well spent.
16
SCHOOL SHOES FOR ALL
MAY/JUNE 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
The government has spent a total of $75 million to provide
children in state schools with uniforms, shoes and equipment
free of charge.
CREDIT: SALVADORAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
More than 200 footwear manufacturers across the country, mostly small companies, shared the responsibility for
making 1.3 million pairs of children’s shoes for the project this year.
CREDIT: SALVADORAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION