Irene Drolet is prize winner of an international price of UNESCO

It is a beautiful crowning of career to which has right the teaching Irene Drolet de Mascouche. She received a mention of honor of international Price UNESCO of education for peace. This honor given in an extremely rare way to an individual devotes the 28 years of teaching of Mrs. Drolet who endeavoured to open the spirit of her pupils of 10 and 11 years on the world.

Gilles Bordonado

To train committed and critical citizens

Originating in Mauricie, Irene Drolet believes in education with the citizenship from the world point of view. For it, being teacher exceeds the simple fact of being a technical driving belt of academic knowledge, like the language, mathematics, sciences and others. "I want to make my pupils of the committed and responsible citizens. I work on the knowledge being and the knowledge to make by the development of attitudes and aptitudes which will enable them to be enlightened and critical citizens ", will note this teaching primary school the Sand pit with Terrebonne.

Its philosophy of teaching aims at interculturelle education, education with the human rights, peace, non-violence, international comprehension and solidarity between the human beings.

This exercise is lived in the daily newspaper in class through each matter and this, in the largest respect of the program of the ministry for Education. In the training of mathematics, one can for example compare data relating to the disparities between the developed and poor countries. In French, the essays can have as a subject of the topics, such racism and the interculturelles relations. The geography québécoise is a beautiful pretext to discuss the place of 19 % of Québécois resulting from the visible minorities, Amérindiens and Inuits. As for the visual arts, it supports for example the dexterity of the pupils to produce a puppet representing a friend originating in a foreign country. A play will then make it possible to the young people to make speak these puppets. For better including/understanding, one demystifies. Work classifies some are done regularly in group. The pupils cooperate, each one with precise missions: "It is participative democracy. It develops a personal engagement to with it and a critical great mind ", will entrust this pedagogue who took an active part 12 years ago with the foundation of the Center of interculturelle education and international comprehension which promotes education with the citizenship from the world point of view in Quebec.

It invites the children to observe and become aware of realities, the such environment, racism, the sexism, violence, poverty, exclusion. They analyze them and call in question their prejudices. Mrs. Drolet then proposes to them to establish links, to pass to the action: "By the gestures of solidarity which they pose, my pupils feel that they have the capacity to change the things on a personal scale and then on a total scale."

It adds that with the globalisation of the markets, the explosion of Internet and the world of the communications, the adults of the next millenium will have other choices to only open on the world and the other cultures.

A completely unexpected price

Its nomination was made without its knowledge, since a large friend, Helene Zographos-Meynaud, large militant for peace, registered at the price without it not being informed. With Andre Jacob, the husband of Irene and large defender also of the human rights, Mrs. Zographos-Meynaud assembled a file of 200 pages which convinced the jury of the single character of the teaching program developed by Mrs. Drolet.

The latter is not friante of glory and of publicity and it is with a certain reserve that it went to the House of UNESCO to Paris on December 13 to receive this international mention: "I said to Helene that I could not leave my pupils at this period of the year, but it made me well understand that this price was worth displacement..." And how!, could one add.

With the passing, Mrs. Drolet thinks that with orée of the retirement which awaits it during next months, this price will offra a formidable platform to him to foam education with the citizenship from the world point of view.

"to accomodate the difference, it is necessary to tame it, know it. It is my role and it is impossible to circumvent in my opinion. It is my ethics of life which imposes it to me ", will entrust this woman éprise justice and of equity, which believes that it is urgent to open the children with realities of the world.