School dropouts have dropped ten points in the last decade, according to the new Active Population survey that was published at the beginning of the year. As reflected, only the 13.6% of Spanish students between 18 and 24 years old have not completed secondary education, a figure that is still far from our European neighbors.

But for this 13.6%, other study possibilities are open to them, Second Chance centers, accredited entities that meet the 28 quality criteria of the E2O Model. In these schools, of which nearly 1,000 professionals are part, it is offered to young people between 15 and 29 years old, without employment and/or training, an innovative pedagogical model based on personalized itineraries, reinforcement in basic and work skills, practical experiences in the business world and support in social demands, with special attention to the most vulnerable.

According to data, There are more than 8,000 young people studying there in vulnerable situations.. One of them is Alican Andrei Marciu, who after repeating a year decided to abandon his studies in the 4th year of ESO. He is now a student at the Tomillo Foundation: “Academically speaking, I had no objectives“Although he wanted to study, he felt that he lacked motivation and did not find it until he found out about the Tomillo Foundation. “I felt that I was going somewhere because I wanted to go and not because no one was forcing me to study,” he declares.

The centers of Second opportunity They have become a socio-educational support that is the key to what is known as the Second Chance Schools Network, a non-profit entity that brings together this type of schools. In them, as Marta Martínez, from the Board of Directors of the National Association of Second Chance Schools, comments, They look “more at their talent than at their past”. “Everyone has talent, but maybe at some point in their life they haven’t been reminded of it or they haven’t let them know,” he says.

This also happened to Josefina Covacho, another student at the Tomillo Foundation, just before finishing ESO. “At the institute they have to provide you with an exit letter and they denied it to me so that I could go directly into the world of work at 16 years old,” he laments.

But when he joined the Tomillo Foundation, he regained his lost hope and enthusiasm. “NWe need someone to direct us, to guide us on the path“he claims.

The professionals of these schools are in charge of this, in which everyone from teachers to social workers participate, such as Esther Yuste Carballo, social worker and coordinator of Guidance projects at Fundación Tomillo. “They arrive very damaged emotionally and in their self-esteem.“, since “they have been receiving the message for years: ‘I can’t, I’m not good enough to study, I’m not going to achieve anything.'”

Now, Ali studies Vocational Training and wants to go to university and Josefina dreams high: she wants to be a “pilot.” Their story is also very curious: they met in kindergarten and, later, their lives separated, but they met again at the Tomillo Foundation 15 years later. Now, as fellow students, they enjoy their second chance.