Challenges and opportunities for education

Towards building a better future for Guatemala

Rainbow Café March 15th 2011

Education is a fundamental human right • Article 26 of the 1948 Universal

Declaration of Human Rights• Article 13 of the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ratified by Guatemala on 19 May 1988)

• Article 24 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child

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Quality education is central to development

• The ‘most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world’ (N. Mandela)

• It creates a ‘ripple effect of opportunities’ (UNICEF)

• A powerful equalizer, which helps lift people out of poverty (World Bank)

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Why invest in education?

Education benefits to: • The individual: health, nutrition, inequality

reduction, productivity and earnings increase• Society as a whole: it contributes to peace and

stability, democratization, economic health, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

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1. Numerous challenges

General Challenges (1/2)• More than half of the population is below the national poverty

line and 15% lives in extreme poverty. • Distribution of income remains highly unequal:

- wealthiest 10% comprising over 40% of Guatemala's overall consumption and owning nearly 50%of the national wealth, while the poorest 10 % owning less than 1%.

- missing a middle class, political power mostly within an elite group

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General challenges (2/2)

43% of children under five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world

Facts and figures on education (1/4)Persistently low literacy rates

• Percentage of literate Guatemalans aged 15–24 lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2001–2005.

• Since 2002, Guatemala managed to increase its literacy rate among 15–24-year-olds to 88 percent in 2006, adult literacy rate 73% (2003-2008)

• But this rate is still the lowest among countries with similar GDP per capita and among lowest in Latin America.

Facts and figures on education (2/4)Gross Enrollment Rate (GER)• In primary school 95% (2003–2008), but only 72,5 % finish

primary school : low score in comparison to Latin America, even lower score if you take in consideration finishing in the established time 39%

• In secondary school 56%: lowest score in whole Latin America and Caribbean.

26% of the children between 7 and 14 do not attend school.

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Facts and figures on education (3/4) Too few children complete primary education

• The rate of children who complete primary education is the second lowest in Latin America, and significantly lower than that found in Honduras and Bolivia, (countries with lower GDP per capita).

• Yet positive results in increasing its aggregated primary completion rates from 1991 to 2006 (from 39 percent to 73 percent).

Facts and figures on education (4/4)Gender, geographic and ethnic disparities persist• One of the few countries in the region where fewer girls than boys complete

primary school. • Children from the wealthiest 20 % of society are more than twice as likely to finish primary school as the poorest 20 % of children.• Only 42 % of rural children are likely to finish primary school, almost half the

rate of urban children. • Indigenous children in both rural and urban areas scored about 17% lower

than non-indigenous children in grade 3 and 6 Spanish tests.• Non indigenous male youth has an average of 5,6 years of school attendance,

while indigenous youth only 3,5 years.

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Intersecting social disparities – urban, rural, indigenous, ladino gap

State policies: missing financial effort (1/2)• Guatemala has among the lowest levels of health and education spending

relative to GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean, despite steps taken since the 1996 Peace Agreements to increase social spending.

• The Government spends only 2.6 % of its GDP on education compared to the 4,4% in Latin America.

• Low tax revenue: Guatemala still has one of the lowest tax bases in the region and among the most generous tax exemptions and fiscal incentives for business: tax base of 12% was below the Central American average of 16 % (2006)

• According to the Ministry of Education only 14,5% of public schools count with the basic facilities, such as drinking water, electricity, classrooms in decent conditions, adequate sanitary services and sufficient space.

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State policies: missing financial effort (2/2)

State policies: gap between rhetoric and practice• The peace agreements (1996) established the compromise to expand the

coverage of education, to promote alphabetization, bilingual education and the education of girls.

• The Constitution establishes that primary and basic education is free of charge and mandatory (art.74), education should be multilingual, multiethnic and pluricultural, considering the local community (art. 1, 56 to 58).

• One element is the decentralization of the administration of education and projects of schools which were self governed (PRONADE).

• Mi familia progresa, a Government program, which obliges families to send their children to school bilingual.

• Intercultural education is reduced to bilingualism.

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Other influential factors Socio-economic• Malnutrition• Ill health• Poverty • Lack of access to pre-

primary education and secondary education (80% of middle school education is private)

• Violence• Drugs

Political• One of the few Latin American

countries with teacher education at secondary school level

• Very complex national teaching plan• Enormous influence of the teachers’

unions to blockade changes• Value of education vs. corruption • Political tool

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2. Niños de Guatemala: an opportunity

Providing a better future for Guatemalan children

• Creation in 2006• Education through a better future• Empowering local communities• Reaching self-sufficiency

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Our project: The Primary School Nuestro Futuro

(‘Our Future’) in Ciudad Vieja

• Since January 2009• In 2009, the school started with three grades • Each year, a new grade is added so that by 2014 the

school will be completed

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Nuestro Futuro, our primary school in Ciudad Vieja

• We target the most underprivileged children, who would not have such an opportunity otherwise.

• Some of our students are the first ones of their families to achieve literacy.

• 138 students to date.

Our students

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Our students

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The curriculum

• In the morning: government-approved program.• In the afternoon: remedial teaching, arts, crafts

and sports.

Involving and empowering local communities

• An experienced local staff runs and teaches at Nuestro Futuro

• Parents are involved as much as it is possible • We are working on setting up a community

center

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3. Everyone can do something!

How to help?

• Become a volunteer at Nuestro Futuro• Become a padrino and sponsor the education of

a child• Leave us a donation

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The Padrino ProgramBy donating 35 Euros or US $50 a month, you will sponsor a specific

child’s and his/her education. Your donation will cover:• Daily snack at the school• School supplies and books• Uniforms once a year• A percentage of the teacher’s wage• A percentage of the school maintenance

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See first-hand NDG’s Work in the Primary School Nuestro Futuro:

The Experience Guatemala Tour

• Visit two typical local businesses• Walk through the fields where most of the families

work and through the neighborhood where Nuestro Futuro’s students live.

• Visit Nuestro Futuro and taste a ‘comida tipica’ prepared by the children’s mothers.

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Our tour in Ciudad Vieja

For more information visit www.ninosdeguatemala.org

Thank you for your attention and support!