HEDS UP for Los Niņos

Education in Guatemala

Basic education is not readily available for most children in Guatemala, especially the children living a life of deep poverty in the rural countryside. Preschool programs to prepare them for school are non-existent and even when they enter elementary programs most only attend until the 3rd or 4th grade. Schooldays are only half days and there are few after school programs or planned activities to facilitate their education. Fewer than 50% of the children go beyond 6th grade and less than 1% ever attends the University.

School is not free, there are fees for supplies and you often must have a uniform to attend school. Books are few if any in many schools with teachers teaching only from the blackboard. Many of our clinics are held in schools, and we can see the very sparse facilities and classrooms, which are often without even electricity for lights. Books that are found in abundance everywhere in our country cannot be found in many villages and most homes in Guatemala.

Many teachers in Guatemala only have a high school level education and there were few resources available for the children to succeed educationally. Teachers are paid little and are not rewarded for quality teaching. Educational outcomes are not measured and parents often take their children out of school because they do not see a value in education and the child can often work in the fields or streets to bring money to the family.

It is readily apparent that without the ability to receive an education, there is little hope to ever have an opportunity to break out of the Cycle of Poverty. We need to find a way to help, to truly make a difference, so another generation of children are not lost in a life of Poverty.

HEDS UP Los Niņos provides Scholarships and purchases books and educational supplies for schools and students. Please Consider Participating in our Scholarship Program.