780 families became their children’s earliest educators through the HIPPY program
The initiative is underway in three regions of the country, reaching a total of 19 communities. By the end of the year in Santiago there were 110 families included, 80% of whom are migrants.
How can we deal with the educational crisis that the country is experiencing? This question has guided the CMPC Foundation’s HIPPY educational program in its pursuit of empowering hundreds of parents and caregivers to be children’s first educators in order to address the learning problems faced today by children in Chile.
HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. It’s a home visit program that reached about 780 families in the Biobío, Araucanía and Metropolitan regions, covering a total of 19 communities in the country this year.
During 2022’s closing ceremony, CMPC Foundation Executive Director Carolina Andueza said “During periods of acute crisis education, a program like HIPPY helps families to accompany, teach and stimulate their children in various subject matters in their very own homes. It shows that progress can be made in quality early childhood education.”
The Director of the Municipal Education Office in Santiago Rodrigo Roco said, “Children’s early education determines a lot in terms of what they will be able to achieve as their own life project. This is an amazing program and it is very understandable why it emerged in Israel 50 years ago and has spread around the world, either through private initiative or public policy.
HIPPY offers a tremendous value because it is a force multiplier that helps build capacities within families and for mothers, who then share the lessons with each other. In that sense, we are taking charge as a community to give a warm welcome to these new members, our children.”
Part of the impact of the program on families was reflected in the testimonies shared during the event held at the Cousiño Palace in downtown Santiago. “It taught me about new tools I can use to teach my son Carlos. Regardless of whether a participant has a lot of experience as a mother or in education, each child is a unique challenge. It’s very gratifying to feel that I am his first educator,” said Karla Quintero, HIPPY mom for two years.
Rosa Aguirre, a mother and HIPPY tutor from Santiago, commented that when she joined HIPPY, “In my first year I got actively involved in my daughter’s education. I could see how she learned geometric shapes, to write her name, to enjoy reading a story together and to play using her motor skills.”
In her speech at the ceremony, she discussed another one of the positive impacts that the program has had as it hosts foreign families. “I met people who became my colleagues; the HIPPY team. We all support and stand by each other. For foreigners, this is very important, because we arrived in a country that welcomes us, but with having many support networks,” Rosa added.
In the Santiago district, HIPPY reached 110 families, of which 80% are migrants, mostly from Venezuela.
Lastly, Santiago HIPPY Coordinator Fabiola Gatica said, “This year our group of 10 tutors made more than 3,250 home visits, delivered more than 3,150 workbooks and more than 1,160 children’s stories. All this time and resources invested has only one goal: empowering parents to be the first educators of their sons and daughters.”
HIPPY Program
HIPPY is an international program operating in 15 countries that arrived in Chile in 2018 thanks to the CMPC Foundation. The way it works is by training a professional coordinator who leads a group of tutors. In turn, they work with parents and/or caregivers for 30 weeks through home visits and a curriculum of stimulation games so that they can be their children’s first educators.
International studies have shown that this kind of local impact promotes development of language, cognitive and socio-emotional skills in children aged two and four years.
