Guatemala
Guatemala
ranks 118th of 177 countries in the 2008 human development index of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The signing of peace agreements in 1996 came as a turning point in the
political and civil life but the economic and social situation remains
seriously problematic, particularly with respect to the important increase
of crime and poverty. In addition, in spite of certain benefits obtained
through the Agreement on the identity of indigenous people, equal treatment
for all Guatemalan citizens, including the Maya populations is not yet
a reality, in particular in the area of education.
Basic
indicators
Population:
GNP
per capita (US$):
Under-5
mortality rate (0/00):
Life
expectancy at birth (years):
Adult
literacy rate (%):
Primary school attendance rate boys/girls (%):
Primary school children reaching grade 5 (%):
Access to drinking water (%):
Population annual growth rate (%):
Urban population (%):
source:
The Official Summary of the State of the World's Children 2009,
UNICEF
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13'354'000
2440
39
70
73
80/76
1
63
961
2.4
48 |
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Enfants
du Monde project in Guatemala -
Coordinator for Central America : Léonel VELASQUEZ
Basic
education for Maya children
Context
: The majority of the
population of Guatemala are indigenous, young and live n rural areas.
Unfortunately, the national education system ignores these needs. The
educational concept corresponds to the urban and mestizo population, based
on the colonial period. The majority of the schools are in the cities
and certain rural zones do not even receive any support for education.
Moreover Spanish is still the language taught and of teaching. The result
is that more than 80% of the indigenous population is illiterate and the
remaining 20% receive a teaching which is of no utility to them in their
environment.
| Project:
The Maya education project
of EdM, carried out in partnership with the association Xch'ool
Ixim, began in 2001, and offers Maya Q'eqchi children access to
a primary education with a bilingual teaching adapted to their
culture, in order to improve their perspectives of development
and insertion into the Guatemalan society.
The
second phase of the project is 2005 through 2008 to strengthen
the experience initiated earlier. New elements of the q'eqchí
culture have been included. The project uses the educational approach
of Pedagogy of the Text, and supports the training of the principal
actors of the project to encourage their active participation.
A key objective of this phase is to obtain recognition of the
proposal by the Ministry of Education in order to then replicate
and/or duplicate on a larger scale. |
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EdM's
role : EdM supports
the training of trainers and teachers in the design of educational
programmes as well as in the elaboration of appropriate didactical
material, stressing Maya culture. The project networks with different
actors in the field of education, including with the State, in
order to share information on the experience.
Partner:
Enfants du Monde collaborates with Xch'ool Ixim since 1996. Xch'ool Ixim is a community organization of the Q'eqchí
ethnic group, which comes from the great line of the Mayas. Xch'ool
Ixim is part of the COPMAGUA, the representation authority of
the Maya people in the negotiations with the Guatemalan State.
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