Fund a teacher and support more than 250 students

18 months ago, the pandemic lead to an enormous disruption of the already fragile Guatemalan education system and suddenly obliged teachers, parents and students to new ways of teaching and learning. The crisis is worsening pre-existing education disparities within the country by reducing the opportunities of the most vulnerable children and youths to continue their learning. Many students, especially from rural areas fell severely behind in their learnings. Due to a lack of resources, education or time, many parents are simply not in the position of accompanying their children during homeschooling.

Debate is a great tool for engaging students and help them nurture rational and critical thinking skills, assertive communication, argumentation, research and public speaking. As part of CasaSito’s Teacher Development Program, the participating teachers initiated the second phase of the training with 75 students of different schools. They taught them about the importance of reliable and safe information sources, and have carried out activities to motivate the reading of local newspapers. The students learned to defend their ways of thinking with arguments, modulate their voice, have an open mind and heart, be more tolerant, respectful and empathetic, and to seek solutions through assertive dialogue and responsible listening. The classroom debates helped them to test their thoughts and views against the ones of their peers.

It is expected that the program will culminate with a final Debate Festival of all participating schools end of September.

Debate is a valuable tool for students that helps to build confidence in public speaking and presenting. At CasaSito, debate has been an integral part of its program for students from Middle and High School, since 2009.

Between January and May 2021, as part of the Teacher Development Program, a group of 10 teachers from public and private schools participated in a course on debating techniques that helped them to strengthen their teaching skills and abilities and enabled them to awaken their spirit of critical thinking. In addition, the participants learned about the importance of research on various topics of social interest and the foundation of arguments through reliable sources. The training culminated with a final debate competition between the participating teachers.

As part of the program, the teachers initiated the second phase of the training with students of their schools in May. Due to the pandemic, the classes have to be hold virtually. The teachers will provide supporting materials to their students in order to make learning easier and stimulate critical thinking. Depending on the government regulations, it is contemplated that the training will be finalized with a Debate Festival of all participating schools in September.

Follow-up support will be provided to teachers during the coming months, with additional workshops on debate techniques. Psychosocial support will be offered through individual follow-up monitoring and circles of confidence that will provide a space for the group and facilitate accompanying them during the implementation of the program so that they continue to grow as individuals through self-care and health.