Janric is in Year 5 (in the Netherlands, Year 7) and is growing up in an active family. His father works as an on-call labourer in construction and his mother, in addition to everything she does for her family, is the chair of the parents' committee at Papaya School, where both Janric and his younger brother attend.
Janric: “We are always allowed to play before and after school, and also between lessons. And I really enjoy solving maths puzzles. Actually, almost all sums are a kind of puzzle. Because I enjoy it so much and am quite good at it, I was allowed to represent our school in the school maths competitions. I didn't win, but that doesn't matter.
I also enjoy badminton and dancing, and together with other children from Papaya, I participated in the folk dance competition. I was very nervous at first, but later on I felt better. Our team came third.”
More than free education
Papaya pupils, including Janric, grow up in families where the chances of building a better life are very slim. There is not enough money for a good education and it is often necessary for the children to contribute to the family income. That is why it is not only important to have a place at a school where really good education is provided, but also to pay attention to the whole family. By working with parents to find ways to ensure that children can focus on school, discuss problems and continually look at what is possible, it is almost always possible to keep children and their families ‘on board’ and offer them tools for a promising future. This results in children daring to dream.
Janric's dreams
“I would like to become a teacher later on,” says Janric. “I think it would be really nice to help other children and teach them things. I think I would prefer to teach history, because I find things that happened in the past interesting and you can learn something from them. And I think maths would be a fun subject too, but I still need to improve a bit. I think I can do it if I study hard.”
And are there any other dreams? Janric: “I would really love to travel. All over the world, or else to the Philippines, to Boracay or the Mayon volcano! But my real dream is Paris, where there's the Eiffel Tower and they eat completely different things. And I hope I can take my little brother with me. And maybe my father and mother too. But I think we'll have to find a good house first, because we don't have one yet.”
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