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 4 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 221,000 lives 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 5 hours northeast of our Guatemala headquarters in Xela.
To date, we’ve built over 70 schools in the region and plan to continue to scale our builds, as well as our programmatic work, across Quiché.
Before the PoP School Build
Previously, students of Vicampanavitz attended classes in 2 provisional classroom structures. Both preexisting structures were deteriorating, made of aging wood and rusted metal. The classrooms were in disrepair: with dirt floors, minimal lighting and ceilings falling apart. Structure aside, the classrooms were split among the pre-primary and primary students, meaning teachers were teaching multiple grades simultaneously. Additionally, the small and limited number of classrooms could not accommodate the large student body and as a result, the students were forced to study in extremely overcrowded spaces. The combination of overcrowding paired with the structural deficiencies hindered student engagement and learning.
Your Impact with the New PoP School
You recognized that these conditions were not conducive to learning and responded by helping PoP and the Vicampanavitz community complete the build of a new block of classrooms. Teachers, parents and community members were actively engaged throughout the build process and contributed up to 20% of resources and labor by the end of the project. Overall your support made possible a 2-classroom school build, which will help relieve the teachers and students of overcrowding issues, enabling the growth and development of all students at the Vicampanavitz School.