Long Way Home's school, Tecnico Chixot developed a curriculum based on democracy and self-determination. The Democratic Education model presents a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum that guides student-driven, community-based projects that address genuine community needs. This year we opened the first high school grade and we need textbooks to support their learning, where students engage in field-based practical application of classroom lessons.
Many classrooms, especially in rural Guatemala, do not have adequate teaching materials. Additionally, with more than half the population living below the poverty line, many children especially indigenous children are forced to drop out of school to help support their families or because they are unable to afford the cost of uniforms, textbooks and school supplies.
To buy textbooks for Tecnico Chixot's new high school class we need money to cover the expenses. 19 specially chosen textbooks are required to improve the educational process where teaching and learning is participatory, empowering, and emancipatory. The textbooks include content of mathematics, physics, English and Spanish languages, psychology, philosophy, social sciences, project management and music.
The textbooks will serve our current high school students and further generations to develop problem-solving skills, technical skills, scientific theory, social responsibility and intellect. When our students graduate they will have the capacity to create solutions to local challenges and to be the architects of their own futures.
