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Makiguchi
Project in Panama
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Children
from the Centro de Orientacion Infantil with
Cristobalia de Sausedo (back, third from right) and
their teachers
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The Centro de
Orientacion Infantil (John Dewey Children's Guidance Center),
located in La Chorrera, a suburb of Panama City, Panama, has
been employing the educational theories and practices of first
Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. Makiguchi's
teachings, which are similar to John Dewey's, are based on
value creation and fostering the inherent capabilities of
children. Cristobalia de Sausedo, founder and director of the
center, said that her ideas of education were transformed when
she happened to come across Makiguchi's theories after her
retirement as a schoolteacher. She was so inspired by them
that she made the decision to come back from retirement to
spread his pedagogy in Panamanian society. She founded the
Centro de Orientacion Infantil in March 2000.
In 1999, SGI-Panama educators initiated their own Makiguchi
Project based on a research program instituted by educators in
SGI-Brazil to implement Makiguchi's pedagogy in Brazilian
schools. The project involves students in growing and
harvesting crops with their parents and in making handicrafts
with recycled materials so that they learn how to cooperate
and develop a heightened awareness of environmental issues.
Each student's interests and potential are taken into
consideration.
The Panamanian government has also shown an interest in Soka
education, which is founded on Makiguchi's pedagogy, and it
has sponsored seminars on the Makiguchi Project through the
Ministry of Education in cooperation with SGI-Panama.
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