You’re Making a Difference Here
GUATEMALA
In Guatemala, where over 50% of the population lives below the poverty line, socioeconomic status is one of the biggest barriers to accessing a quality education (World Bank 2013). The average length of schooling for a Guatemalan child is only four years and 24.1% of the population is illiterate (US Aid 2014; World Bank 2014).
Pencils of Promise works with 168 communities in Guatemala to ensure our students overcome these, and other, barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 35,000 students in Guatemala.
QUICHÉ REGION
Quiché is a mountainous region located in northwestern Guatemala. PoP’s base in Quiché is in the city of Nebaj, which is about five hours northeast of our Guatemala headquarters in Xela.
To date, we’ve built over 101 schools in the region and plan to continue to scale our builds, along with teacher training workshops, across Quiché.
Before the PoP School Build
Previously, the community of Aldea El Vergel had a school with one formal classroom and three provisional classrooms. The provisional classrooms were made out of wood, had dirt floors and were very dark. These problems posed a significant danger to student engagement and learning.
Your Impact with the New PoP School
You’ve recognized that these conditions are not conducive to learning and have responded by helping PoP and the Aldea El Vergel community complete construction on a new three-classroom school. These additional classrooms will help to benefit the 58 students that are currently learning in the provisional classrooms. Teachers, parents and community members were dedicated and committed to the project, and contributed 20 percent of the resources and labor necessary to complete the build. This school broke ground in December 2017 and was officially inaugurated in June 2018. The students and community of Aldea El Vergel are so excited to soon have a new school that will provide a quality learning environment!