Education Reforms

The education system in Guatemala is lacking, that's for sure. Yet, there seems to be some good changes recently. According to UNESCO; 92% of girls and 96% of boys were in elementary in 2006, in high school 37% of girls and 40% of boys. Part of the problem with lack of enrollment in secondary education is that the students have to work to help support the family and school isn't free. There are two types of schools here, private and public. The private schools are expensive and the public schools cost as well. It isn't much, but it is per child, so for the large families, the money is signficant. I couldn't find exact figures, but my Spanish teacher thought around $30 (210Qs) per kid, plus shots to attend and mandatory uniforms. According to BBC, most Guatemalan families live on $2/day.

With the new president, Alvaro Colom (2008-2012), one of his main platforms is education reform. He has authorized the government to pay for the registration fee as well as the shots for each child. And I love this part, to weed out those who can afford to pay for the shots, they have decided to only give free shots to 40 people a day. This means that those who want it are at the hospital early in the morning, often before 6 waiting to get a number. It isn't vale la pena for the families who can afford to pay it, so they don't come. If you don't get a number today, you can return tomorrow. The government is also footing the bill for supplies like pencils and paper. To make sure that the school year begins with the students ready, they have postponed the school year until Feb 1. Usually summer break ends Jan 15, the two weeks will be added to the end of the year. To combat children working instead of attending school, a program is in the works to give each family in need $40/month. But brick by brick, my citizen.

Prense Libre, a Latin American newspaper wrote that last year, about 50,000 were in school for the year, this year 350,000 are expected to enroll. I wasn't able to verify the number because the articles I need are in Spanish, but even assuming the margin of error is really high, it seems education is more accessible under Colom. I haven't read any articles though about hiring more teachers or opening more schools, but maybe they'll address that problem once it arises (...in February?). According to UNESCO, the student-teacher ratio in 2007 was 31 to 1, so if the new numbers are correct, many more teachers will be needed.

Kilo, 16, dropped out of school to make money as a shoe shiner. Every time I see him, I teach him something in English, the first thing he wanted to know how to say: "Lend me 10 Quetzales"