We had carefully and enthusiastically prepared all the activities, shared with the Headmaster, to welcome the children and families to the Open Day on 15 January. The interactive workshops for the little ones in nursery school were ready, as was the desire to show a unique school reality in the area: the Saragat complex.
A school surrounded by greenery, which can count on rare and precious spaces: a pine forest behind the building, an educational greenhouse where children learn the rhythm of the seasons from the earth, plant, harvest and discover the life of the seed; large green areas such as the baseball field, used for educational activities, motor education and social moments after the canteen. Spaces that become places of celebration at the end of the year, when the entire Saragat community gathers to say goodbye to the school year and accompany the fifth grade children towards lower secondary school.
The complex is bright, welcoming, alive. A place where the national anthem is sung, the flag is raised, yoga is practiced outdoors, the corridors are filled with voices and songs. A school surrounded by greenery, far from traffic, where light enters from large skylights as if from portholes looking towards the future. During the Covid period, these spaces represented a real window of hope, allowing children to experience school in the open air in a historical moment marked by restrictions and isolation.
We deeply believe in this “frontier” school. Those who choose to work at Saragat choose an educational and civil mission: to enhance a cultural defense of freedom, training and inclusion in a context at high risk of social marginalization. A school that belongs to the history of the area, which has trained generations of citizens and professionals, and which will continue to do so.
For this reason we strongly ask for a serious and immediate commitment from the Mayor of Anzio, the Council, the competent bodies and the Lazio Region, so that all the necessary resources are put in place to return the Saragat complex to the community. The impact that this school has always had on the neighborhood requires a rapid reaction: children and families have the right to feel safe, protected by the institutions, and to return to their school.
Saragat is already today an “education village”, made up of relationships, sharing of diversity, open human networks. As an African proverb says, “to educate a child you need an entire village”: this village must be defended, cultivated and returned to the territory.
In the meantime, we invite all families interested in the Open Day to meet us on January 16th at the headquarters in via Ambrosinito get to know each other, share our educational project and look to the future together, certain that the return to Saragat will take place quickly.
