The Ramacrisna Educational Support Center (CAER) offers children various workshops to complement their public school lessons. The workshops expand their horizons and open many doors to a more equal and just world.
They receive daily lunch and snacks, supplies and clothing, also when they are on vacation, as an incentive to help their families keep their school attendance at a maximum. As a result, school dropouts and child labor, common practices in the area, have been significantly reduced, while there has been an increase in the educational level of children and adolescents. To reinforce this idea, only those who are regularly enrolled and attending a public school are eligible to take part in Ramacrisna’s activities.
With the Digital Literacy Table, the students become familiar with the written language by fitting colored blocks into a large electronic panel. As the letters are inserted in the correct place, they are recognized by special a software and appear on the computer screen. This kind of interactive activity allows the children to recognize the alphabet, construct words, find new meanings, discover accents and interpret texts. To improve their Portuguese and Mathematics notions the Table also includes fables, proverbs, rhymes, tongue twister, among others, which facilitate literacy, help the children to rebuild their self-esteem and expand the learning process.
The access to the INTERNET allows the students and residents of rural areas to connect to the world. The DIGITAL BOARD combines knowledge with technology, while expanding their learning universe.
The Institute has a multi-sport court, grass soccer field, playground, and an entertainment area with kiosks, tables and benches that are available to the community for sports championships, parties and games in general.
Sports activities – Futsal, indoor soccer, peteca, chess and volleyball
The Institute’s methodology proposes to democratize physical activity and entertainment, promoting health, welfare and quality of life. Sports have a unique way of favoring human development, causing social impact and transforming lives. The Institute offers educational practices as well as recreational and cultural activities that help to transform citizen’s values on the courts, at school, on the streets and in life.
For each meeting, we create a participatory environment that gives voice to the students and use dialogue as a means of interaction and resolution of differences. While negotiating their rules, the students can develop some important skills and incorporate the gender dimension in their lives. By using a different approach during sports practice, we help the students to think and act in connection with the social realities that permeate their lives.
It is a martial art practiced in order to develop self-defense techniques and strengthen the body, physique and mind in an integrated way. However, the purpose of this activity is not only the training of such techniques, but also to contribute to the social and human development that will create black belts on and off the mat.
Judo athletes from the Ramacrisna Institute have been standing out in national championships, winning different titles. In 2023, they participated in championships such as the Minas Gerais Student Games (JEMG) – in which they competed with more than 7 thousand athletes from 810 cities in Minas Gerais and brought home four gold, one silver and five bronze medals. The competition also resulted in four classifications to compete in the national stage of the competition.
In the Betim Judo Cup, which was attended by more than a thousand athletes from all over the country, students from the Ramacrisna Institute won 16 gold medals, six silver medals and four bronze medals – standing out in the competition.
At the Brazilian School Games (JEBs), three students represented Betim and won a bronze medal – the first victory for an athlete from the city in the competition.
The learning and practice of chess represent not only an entertainment and cultural option, but also another way of developing fundamental skills, such as the ability to concentrate, think logically, create strategies, propose innovative solutions, make decisions and be persistent.
In 2023, chess workshop students had the opportunity to participate in several championships and tournaments. Check out:
Promoted by the Minas Gerais Chess Federation, two chess players won the title of Minas Gerais runners-up – under-10 and under-12 female categories. Another eight athletes from the Institute were classified among the top 10 in their categories.
Held by the Minas Gerais Chess Federation in Pará de Minas, two chess players won third place in the competition that included representatives from several cities in Minas Gerais.
Held in Contagem, 14 students participated in the competition – which resulted in good placements on the podium. Four chess players won 1st place, two 2nd place, three 3rd place and another five athletes occupied the top ten positions.
Nine students from the Institute stood out among the three best placed in their categories, two of them being champions. Two of our chess players took 1st place on the podium, four took 2nd place, three took 3rd place and another five were among the six best classified.
