At Melel Xojobal, we've supported working children from Indigenous families in San Cristobal by helping them access the formal education system. Now, we're taking it a step further: supporting them to learn with confidence and build a promising future. With a mobile school and a multilingual team, we will bring literacy and academic support activities directly to the public spaces where they live, contributing to the reduction of educational poverty and promoting their rights and life skills.
In San Cristobal, many indigenous children support their families by participating in their family's work. Most attend school but face obstacles to learning. The public education system is rigid and doesn't reflect their Tsotsil culture and lifestyle. This leads to frustration, low self-esteem and poor academic performance, increasing the risk of dropping out of school and reducing their life opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, inequality, and violence.
The mobile school will offer educational support directly in markets, streets, and neighborhoods. Our multilingual team will develop context-specific educational activities in their native language. We will provide school supplies and materials, and support families by raising awareness about the importance of staying in school and how to boost the process Not just enrolling children in school, but ensuring that education becomes something exciting something that opens new paths for their future
Will expand our work to more than 250 children, strengthening their reading and writing skills and bridging the learning gap. Most importantly, they will regain their confidence and motivation to learn. They will feel more secure in their learning process and will be more likely to stay in school. They will also learn about their rights and life skills, helping them navigate life as protagonists of their own paths, equipped with the tools to build a future different from the one imposed on them.
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