GLXi’s Goal: Helping Classrooms in the Most Vulnerable Areas of Guatemala

Books are a welcome addition to a classroom in Quiché

With Resources Lacking, Futures are Limited

Eight-year-old Juan lives with his mother and two siblings in a rural area of Quiché, where cultivating corn is the family work and school comes second.

During harvest season, Juan often misses classes to help his uncles on the farm.

As he and his family see it, being out in the fields offers a tangible future.

At school, the future is more elusive.

His primary school, Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Cantón Panimaché, lacks resources.

In some classes, they are blending children of multiple grades, with few notebooks per child. There’s no school library to speak of, and a lack of supplies and teaching tools leaves little opportunity for playful learning.

His hardworking teacher lacks training resources like those offered through Global Learning Exchange Initiative.

While Juan is trying to learn how to read, it is difficult. In addition to the conditions at school, he faces obstacles at home.

He has no books, computer or space of his own to study. Juan’s family speaks Qʼeqchiʼ but the instruction at school is in Spanish.

Some days, Juan goes to school without having had breakfast. Learning is difficult, he says, when he is hungry.

A Study in Contrasts

Juan’s situation stands in stark contrast to that of so many schoolchildren in the U.S., who returned to classrooms at the end of summer, bubbling over with excitement and heavy backpacks.

Here, it’s not uncommon to see shopping carts teeming with school supplies as back-to-school time approaches. In cases where children can’t get supplies on their own, the school district, government, or nonprofits often step in.

And of course, there are book fairs and field trips and fundraisers, and all of the other things that turn the school year into a time of fun and learning.

For many Guatemalan students, however, this type of school environment is a luxury that they have never encountered.

A classroom in Quiché is filled with eager students

For example, while a student might have a school-provided laptop in the U.S., in many of the more vulnerable areas of Guatemala, access to devices and other supplies is limited or nonexistent.

In rural Guatemalan communities, experiences such as field trips, book clubs, and extracurricular programs are rare. They are simply considered impractical or too costly.

In many U.S. households, there is structure for homework and access to materials; in vulnerable areas of Guatemala, families struggle to cover basic needs, which limits time to read and practice.

Continuous professional development programs, somewhat ubiquitous for teachers in the U.S., are scarce in Guatemala, and rarely government-provided.

The list goes on.

GLXi Meets a Need in Vulnerable Areas

By providing resources and teacher training to some of the more vulnerable areas of Guatemala, GLXiⓇ is steadily building a future for children like Juan.

The goal is to allow these kids to see and reach for opportunities beyond the boundaries of their rural communities, if that’s where their interests take them.

Right now, many children in these communities don’t even know these opportunities exist, much less have the means to reach for them.

The numbers are startling.

In Guatemala, departments such as Quiché, Huehuetenango, Alta Verapaz, and Jalapa concentrate high levels of poverty, educational lag, and technological exclusion.

In these rural regions, up to 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. Around 24 percent face extreme poverty, with daily incomes below the equivalent of $2 U.S. dollars.

Literacy also shows deep gaps: While the national rate is around 81 percent, in indigenous areas, more than a third of adults cannot read or write. Many children do not complete sixth grade.

Access to technological and educational resources is minimal: more than 70 percent of the workforce is in the informal sector. Numerous rural schools lack books, teaching materials, and internet connection.

On almost every count, the decks are stacked against these students.

Investing in Guatemala’s Future

Without intervention, the future is stagnant for too many children in these communities. That’s the best case scenario.

A child who never learns to read will have difficulty accessing higher education or formal employment later in life.

This not only hurts the current generation, but affects the next generation as well.

Parents with low literacy have fewer opportunities to support their children in school.

Students in Huhuetenango excitedly show off their GLXi provided supplies

Low educational levels also correspond to other gaps in basic needs and services: limited access to information and health services, and poor health outcomes and participation in civic life.

Overcoming obstacles that limit children’s literacy is essential to ensure that all children in Guatemala can access a dignified life, be informed, and have real opportunities for advancement.

GLXi understands that reading with comprehension is a tool for transformation: It provides access to new knowledge, the exercise of rights, and active participation in society.

“Every child who learns to read confidently is better prepared to break the cycles of poverty affecting their family and community,” explained Jaime Vielman, Executive Director of GLXi. “Investing in literacy is not just an educational investment, it is a commitment to Guatemala’s future.”

GLXi’s Work: Providing Hope and Possibility

Exactly how does GLXi make a difference for children like Juan?

One only has to look as far as Dora, a 9-year-old who lives in Zacapa, which is a vulnerable area much like Quiché, with better literacy rates but higher rates in malnutrition, lack of security and, in some areas, lack of quality education.

Unlike Juan, Dora has a teacher who has benefited from GLXi’s training and resources. And thus, her classroom has also benefited, both with its current students and those to fill it in years to come.

Before her teacher joined the GLXi program, the class had few books, and students had limited reading practice.

There were few opportunities for independent reading; usually students just followed what the teacher wrote on the blackboard. And the class lacked age-appropriate books that could spark the imagination.

As a result, students struggled to stay motivated, seeing reading as a difficult and boring task.

Then GLXi stepped in.

GLXi works directly with teachers in rural schools through continuous training, technical support, and by providing materials.

Its “Open Books, Open Minds” program provides weekly lesson plans, teaching strategies for multigrade classrooms, and specific tools to strengthen reading comprehension from the early grades.

And the “Open Minds in Action” program, which is an ongoing workshop program for GLXi teachers, offers continuous professional development, with opportunities for updating knowledge, peer exchange, and pedagogical follow-up.

This ensures that good practices are maintained over time and creates a network of teachers committed to improving literacy in their communities.

Making a Difference, One Child and One Classroom at a Time

After joining GLXi’s teacher training program, Dora’s teacher was able to bring in new strategies for reading aloud, dramatization, and creative writing. She set up a learning corner in the classroom with adapted books, playful materials, and illustrated stories.

The changes lit a spark within Dora, who lives with her parents and two younger siblings.

Like Juan’s family, they also work in the fields, living off the goods and food produced from that work. But unlike Juan, Dora never misses school.

Dora proudly displays a poster she made of her family members

In her classroom, Dora sees new hope and opportunity. And she is reluctant to miss it.

Dora now reads daily in class. And she began asking for books to read at home with her family.

She has gone from reading short phrases with difficulty to reading full stories fluently. And she is a leader in her class, helping younger children in the learning corner and recommending books to her peers.

She told her teacher that she dreams of also being an educator when she grows up, so that she can “read and teach other children.”

Dora’s story reflects how access to materials, innovative methodologies, and teacher support can transform a child’s relationship with reading. A lack of books and motivation, once an obstacle, is now something that has been overcome and is a bridge to new educational opportunities.

Guatemala is filled with children just like Juan and Dora. Bright, curious, and eager. These kids are able to climb mountains, if given the opportunity.

Together, let’s make sure they have those opportunities.

Your support helps provide the programming that changes the future for Guatemala children. Donate today. https://glxi.org/donate

You can also directly share the link to sponsor: Sponsor Teacher Training — Global Learning Exchange