These pictures were taken at 2 schools, Las Majadas and Bella Vista. These schools are very close to each other, but neither have bus access so they are about a 30-45min hike from the closest bus stop. They recently did get a paved road so you can now travel there by car.
As I think I've mentioned before, the education system in Guatemala just became free for everyone. This might sound like it's a great idea, but it's actually made things a lot worse for the schools and teachers. First of all, the government decided that instead of making students pay to attend school, that they would supply the schools with the money necessary for supplies and school materials. School has started, but the schools have yet to see any of the money promised. Therefore, class sizes have grown by 30 - 50%, but there is no funding for supplies, chairs, desks, etc...
Secondly, they have not increased the number of teachers at the schools. At Las Majadas, there were 6 teachers for 300 students. Some of the grades have been combined into the same classroom, making classes between 50 and 70 students. The director must also teach, so while he was talking to us his class was running around the school. Classroom management is close to impossible when you are that outnumbered and dedicated teachers begin to give up. The large class sizes has also lead teachers who were assigned to schools choose not to work rather than deal with the system. Schools have reported having empty spaces and no teachers to fill them, or teachers who stayed a short while and then left. At Bella Vista, a smaller school of about 100 students, there were two teachers for 6 grades. While we were there discussing projects, both teachers were talking to us the whole time and the kids were just running around like crazy. One girl, when I asked her if she was going to go back into the classroom, told me "I'm in sixth grade. I've already learned everything i need to know, I don't need to go back into the classroom." It's also been said that the large class sizes means that children know the teacher can't control them all, so after a little while they just stop coming. All of the teachers we've seen, just look like they don't know what to do. And unfortunately, there isn't anything they can do. They are understaffed, under resourced and without much hope. It does make you wonder how you even start to tackle such a problem, or how long it will take for it to ever start to get better.
On a lighter note, here are some other pictures of the scenery which is really beautiful.
I have deleted my politics rant almost-post. What a challenge.
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