You’re Making a Difference Here
WHY GUATEMALA?
In Guatemala, where 59% of the population lives below the poverty line, socioeconomic status is one of the biggest barriers to accessing quality education (World Bank 2018).
The average length of schooling for a Guatemalan child is only four years and 24% of the population is illiterate (US Aid 2014; World Bank 2014). This is one of the highest illiteracy rates in the Western Hemisphere.
Pencils of Promise works with 190 communities in Guatemala to ensure students overcome these, and other, barriers to accessing quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 38,000 students in Guatemala.
QUICHÉ REGION
The region of Quiché, located northeast of PoP’s headquarters in Xela, is a mountainous and volcanic region in northwestern Guatemala.
To date, we’ve built over 105 schools in the region, providing quality infrastructure to ensure a safe and engaging learning environment.
CANTÓN XOLACUL
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The over 140 members of the Cantón Xolacul community work in agriculture, cultivating corn and beans. Some members also work as weavers. Members of the community speak Spanish as well as Ixil, an indigenous Mayan language. |
Jake & Jill’s Impact in Cantón Xolacul
At PoP, we strive toward a world in which every child can experience and benefit from quality education. Currently, in Cantón Xolacul, students are learning in a structurally unsound building.
We believe that a quality learning environment is critical to increasing student attendance, engagement and overall literacy outcomes.
In the current structure students are easily distracted, and overcrowded, often forcing grades to double up in classrooms. These conditions clearly pose a hazard to student safety and well-being, as well as to engagement and learning.
In the coming months, PoP will be partnering with the Cantón Xolacul community to build a new three-unit classroom block! The community is devoted to providing a valuable education to its students, and will contribute 20 percent of the resources and labor required for construction.
We establish partnerships with communities who are deeply committed to their children’s education. The support of the Cantón Xolacul community ensures the sustainability of the school that it will remain a quality learning environment for generations to come.
Upon completion we will come together to inaugurate the new school and celebrate the extraordinary learning that will take place there!