Español
School No. 217 Ángel María Soria is located at kilometre 4296 in the town of El Bañado, on National Route 40, in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. In 2017, a group of students working in the local soil found a funerary urn and a cooking pot, also used as an urn, which it was later revealed that they belonged to the pre-Columbian period. From then on, the children began to investigate and reconstruct the history of these objects and the place where they lived. With the help of the headmistress and a teacher, they talked to the families involved so that they would agree to donate the pieces. The students of the rural school (pre-school and primary level) were concerned because they knew they were losing their heritage, as some neighbours were selling or giving away the archaeological pieces without being aware of their significance.
With that in mind, the School Museum called Intihuasi —House of the Sun in Quechua— was created: a service-learning project implemented since then, which rescues the traditional customs and chores of the region, preserves the memory of the people and shares them with the visitors of the place.
In this way, the community offers a service for tourists while highlighting the importance of remembering their origins and respect for memory.
In 2023, this project got third place in the CLAYSS award celebrated yearly for educational institutions in Latin America [in Spanish]: https://historiasquetransforman.clayss.org/.
Watch the full video with more information [in Spanish]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rJhs0_nO74
