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Guatemala 2011: the Indigenous Community and Education

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Guatemala 2011: the Indigenous Community and Education Guatemala 2011: The Indigenous Community and Education Members of the 2011 AGBL Guatemala team: Matthew Barr; Erin Barth; Hilary Becker; Brian Falk; Elizabeth Geisen; Molly Giese; Allison Glaubke; Jill Hackmaster; Emily Hoffmann; Emily Kapszukiewicz; Mark Lennon; Alexander Malinchoc; Mark Simak; Griffin Smith; Jan Gregorcich, SSND; and Heather Kohls, Ph.D. 1 Abstract In January 2011, AGBL sent a group of 14 Marquette students and faculty to Chinique, Quiche, Guatemala. Chinique is a low‐income city in the state of Quiche, Guatemala. Education is an important component of economic development, and academic scholarships are offered through an organization called Caritas to qualified individuals in Chinique as well as other regions of Guatemala. Our question was: Should the money be going to scholarships today, even with a recent increase in government funding for schools; or, should the money be going to high school studies exclusively? Based on our research, our final recommendation to Caritas is to direct scholarship funds to the schools rather than the students. It is best to allow them the freedom to decide where the dollars are most needed for the individual school, and to focus individual scholarships on higher levels of schooling where distances require the most money for bus fares and supplies. 2 Introduction Guatemala is a unique country with stunning landscapes, colorful marketplaces, and a personality bubbling with years of culture and history. However, it also has significant socioeconomic disparities, particularly involving levels of education. Compared to other Central American countries, education in Guatemala is lagging. With the highest indigenous population in all of Central America, and in the aftermath of a thirty‐six year civil war, Guatemala struggles to educate its poorest people – the indigenous, who have inhabited the Guatemalan countryside for thousands of years. Based on economic data and studies performed by organizations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this paper looks to prove that lower levels of educational achievement in Guatemala than in neighboring countries are the result of its having a higher indigenous population than the others. (This is based on the assumption, along with research that supports it, that the indigenous population is historically disadvantaged and has often lacked educational opportunities provided to the non‐indigenous population.) This information will be compared against data collected by the Marquette University student group, Applied Global Business Learning, or AGBL, in January of 2011 in the rural town of Chinique in Quiché, Guatemala. Applied Global Business Learning is a student organization at Marquette University within the Center for Global and Economic Studies. AGBL is a unique 3 volunteer opportunity that finds ways for students to assist in developing nations and experience firsthand the complexities of economic development. By providing micro‐enterprise solutions, it is the hope of the organization to foster sustainable business practices while preserving cultural ideals. AGBL is an international student‐led educational program that looks to connect Marquette students, faculty, and community leaders with communities and entrepreneurs in the developing world to grow opportunities and partnerships. Background On the surface, Guatemala looks very similar to its neighbors, El Salvador and Honduras. The tropical and mountainous region located in the heart of Central America is home to almost 28 million people in these three countries alone. These countries are rich in diversity, with more than twenty‐five different native cultures residing within their borders. One characteristic that differentiates Guatemala from its neighbors is its large population of indigenous people. While the populations of El Salvador and Honduras countries are not devoid of indigenous people, the populations of these countries contain only 1% and 7% indigenous people, respectively. Guatemala, on the other hand, is home to the largest number of native people in Central America, with 40% of its residents claiming native descent. Despite other economic and regional similarities, Guatemala shows lower literacy rates and shorter education lifespans than Honduras and El Salvador, most likely a result of its larger indigenous population1. Guatemala’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measured $70.31 billion USD in 2010, and GDP per capita was about $5,200. Guatemala falls in between the measures of GDP per capita of El Salvador and Honduras, which reached $7,300 and $4,200 in 2010, respectively2. Similar in composition, each of these three countries’ GDP have a comparable contributing factor for agriculture, service, and industry 1 United States. CIA. World Fact Book. Web. 3 May 2011. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the‐world‐factbook/index.html>. 2 World Fact Book 4 sectors. The greatest difference lies in the population and labor force. Approximately 50% of Guatemala’s labor force works in agriculture, compared to 19% in El Salvador and 49% in Honduras. With a population almost twice as large as those of El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala houses 13.8 million people, of which approximately 51% live in rural areas. 72% of those living in rural areas are living at or below the poverty line, compared to 28% of those living in urban areas3. Additionally, 80% of all indigenous Guatemalans live in rural areas of the country4, and 86% of all indigenous Guatemalans live below the poverty line5. This means that the indigenous people who already experience higher levels of poverty than non‐ indigenous, or Ladinos, also experience the further impoverishment associated with rural living. For many reasons, including those that follow, the above appears to be the first step in identifying the cause of discrepancies in education in Guatemala. Literacy The level of literacy is a measure of education that varies among these three Central American countries. El Salvador has an 81.1% literacy rate, and Honduras follows closely with a literacy rate of 80%. Alarmingly, Guatemala lags behind with an adult literacy rate of merely 69.1%6. Currently, the level of youth literacy in Guatemala is at a level of 88% and is faring slightly better for urban Ladino students. Urban students, regardless of native background, have reached an average literacy rate of 95%. However, while Ladino students have reached a 96% literacy rate, urban indigenous students only 3 Trading Economics. Web. 12 May 2011. <http://www.tradingeconomics.com/guatemala/indicators>. 4 World Fact Book 5 Minority Rights Group International, State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009 ‐ Guatemala, 16 July 2009, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a66d9b550.html. 23 May 2011. 6 World Fact Book 5 have a literacy rate of 89%. In rural communities, the literacy rate is 81%, with Ladino students reaching a rate of 86% and indigenous students at a lower rate of 76%. Rural indigenous females have the lowest literacy rate, which stands at 68%. Indigenous male students and all Ladino students maintain approximately the same literacy rates respective to their urban or rural location7. Although the current levels of literacy of indigenous youth are lower than those of their Ladino peers, literacy in Guatemala has increased significantly in the last decade. In 1998, urban indigenous students were at a literacy rate of 74.1%, and rural students were only at 50.9%8. During the same time period, Ladino students also had lower literacy rates. Only 89.5% of urban students and 66.2% of rural students were literate9. While Ladino students have historically been associated with higher literacy rates, the rural students of a non‐indigenous background have significantly worse literacy rates than urban students. As noted earlier, roughly 80% of all rural dwellers are indigenous, so the drastic jump in literacy among rural Ladino students may be the result of better schooling and more widespread access to education in rural Ladino areas. Since indigenous families are also more likely to experience poverty, it is possible that the large gap remains despite improvements made in education. Studies often find that students drop out of school because their families cannot afford the cost or because it is deemed necessary for the child to work, rather than go to school. Noting that Ladino families often have a higher income than indigenous families, their students may have had greater opportunities to attend without risking the quality of life of the entire family. Education Lifespan 7 Guatemala: Visualizing Rights. Rep. Vol. 3. 2008. Guatemala Fact Sheet. Center of Economic and Social Rights, 2008. Web. 12 May 2011. <www.cesr.org>Rep. Vol. 3. 2008. Guatemala Fact Sheet. Center of Economic and Social Rights, 2008. Web. 12 May 2011. <www.cesr.org> 8 Anderson, Maria Elena. Guatemala: The Education Sector. Rep. Guatemala Poverty Assessment Program. Web. 12 May 2011. <http://web.worldbank.org/>. 9 Anderson, Maria Elena 6 The number of years a student spends in school is another area in which Guatemala falls short of neighboring El Salvador. Students in El Salvador average twelve years of schooling, whereas Guatemalan students, and in this case, Honduran students as well, only average eleven years10. Despite a similar average number of years in school, the actual primary school completion rate for Guatemala is low compared to neighboring countries. Guatemala experiences about an 80% primary completion rate for its students11. This means that only 80% of students ever finish what can be compared to grades 1‐ 6 in the United States. Guatemala’s primary completion rate is the second lowest in Latin America, only ahead of Nicaragua which had a 77% primary completion rate in 2008. In fact, Honduras, which has a lower GDP per capita, has a primary completion rate of 89.7%12. Additionally, the ratio of female to male students completing primary education is Guatemala is the lowest in the region at 0.88. Honduras’ ratio is third highest at 1.07, which means more females complete their education than male students13.
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