Guatemalan children deserve better. Young newly literate women in Guatemala are giving them that opportunity, opening preschools in their homes. Founded by Guatemalan women they have over 75 classrooms, but thousands more are needed. Fortunately, the program is easily replicable with an investment of $200 per child per year compared with $10,000 in a developed county like the USA.
Early childhood learning is crucial to later educational attainment, but in many rural areas the Guatemalan government does not provide preschool. Without having set foot in a classroom before the age of 7, these rural children run a high risk of early failure. In 2015, 27% of all children failed to pass the 1st grade. Children that struggle to pass the 1st grade are far more likely to abandon their studies prior to completing primary school, severely limiting their opportunities later in life.
We train and equip community-minded and entrepreneurial young adults to teach children ages 4-6 in remote areas currently unattended by the Guatemalan government. With the combination of our culturally relevant curriculum centered on creative learning through the use of natural materials and by tackling chronic child malnutrition with a daily healthy snack, we are able to help mentally and physically prepare previously disadvantaged rural children to be successful in the first grade and beyond.
Providing programs to underserved rural areas will help stem the tide of failure in primary school by preparing children to learn. Training community youth to be program facilitators creates jobs for them and raises awareness of early childhood learning among parents. Longer term, early learning can have a significant positive impact on children's future opportunities and livelihoods as adults and reduce the pressure on other countries borders by starting businesses and getting jobs.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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