“Education is truly critical to overcome poverty and create prosperity,” says Felipe Saez, the World Bank’s resident representative in Venezuela. “We are working to improve the quality of primary education by increasing children’s access to instructional materials and by supporting teachers’ performance, particularly in the poorest areas of the country.”

One of the main obstacles Venezuelan students face is economic hardship. Most of the 400 students at the Simon Bolivar School alone have parents who, if lucky, work in nearby factories, while many are children of single mothers, unable to provide adequate nutrition, let alone school materials.

“I love drawing and math, although what I would really want is to become a doctor when I grow up,” says 10-year old Hugo Montoya, surrounded by classmates who are trying to decide who will represent them in the Carnival. “I learned to draw in school but my parents buy me the color pencils,” adds Hugo, whose father is a carpenter and mother is a factory worker.

Backed by the World Bank’s project, the education system is trying to fill this kind of gap though a comprehensive approach that includes student materials, a book collection for each class—from literature to natural sciences to fairy tales—modern teaching materials for math, training courses for teachers, reading workshops, interactive radio programs, and even social organization support to help communities manage their own schools and look after new funds.

Surrounded by trees and mountains, located next to the train tracks in Los Teques, the Tunel 10 School might be the best example of how an organized community can make a difference for itself. Having been schooled inside cold, abandoned-train wagons from 1984 to 1986, Tunel school students are watching the film “Donald Duck in the Math World” as part of their comprehensive educational program.

“The school was founded 70 years ago in a small house on the hill, but after it was destroyed by a flood we had to move to the wagons and then, finally, to this new building,” says Blanca Delgado, the school coordinator. “Thanks to the perseverance of the community we got the money from the state, and now we even have a TV and VCR provided with World Bank funds.”

As the Primary Education Project nears completion, set to finish by the end of June, teachers and local authorities expect to keep up the progress made in order to help children and their families break out of the poverty cycle—particularly in light of last December’s flood, which in Miranda state alone disabled 77 schools, along with hundreds of homes and other infrastructure.

“We have made great progress. Now the communities as a whole are involved directly in the education of their children,” says Flor Cartaya, coordinator of the Educational Communities and Pedagogic Projects, backed by the World Bank project. “In the end, an educated and participatory community might be the most effective way to keep hope and face the amassing challenges these children have in front of them.”