On September 15, it was made official that in Guatemala public education will be FREE starting 2009 school year. Until now, parents had to pay for registration and other miscellaneous fees even though it was mandated by the Guatemalan Constitution that everyone had the right to a free education. This mandate of the Constitution had been broken since 1968 when it was permitted to charge for student's registration. A definite sign of the Social Democrat government voted into office. Marie, Guatadopt.com
Please note: the President passed legislation prohibiting public schools from charging for uniforms, inscription fees, books and texts.
Funds
Q270 million to cover costs
The Ministry of Education will deliver funds to schools to replace charging parents.
-Q270 million for the Ministry for the coming year within budget.
-26 thousand 764 educational establishments of pre-primary, primary and secondary schools will receive these funds.
-According to the agreement 1492-2008, for every student from pre-primary and primary handed Q40, and for each high school, the figure is Q100.
-The resources will be delivered each year.
Guatemala's public educational system is divided as follows:
Pre-Primaria (Pre-primary also known as parvulos and kindergarten)
Primaria (Primary school 1st to 6th grade)
Secundaria (Secondary school, 3 years known as 1st basic through 3rd basic or Basicos)
Diversificado (3 years corresponding to the last years of High School; also known as Preparataria in other parts of Latin America).
FYI, This information was recieved from Mayan Families:
Free school for Guatemaln kids means "no inscription fees". To attend school in Guatemala, kids still need uniforms, uniform shoes, gym shoes, and other supplies and books that are taken for granted here. These things will not be supplied by the government and may still be cost prohibitive for many families who live in poverty.
It is not clear how inscription fees will be dropped at this point. Supposedly, inscription fees have paid for teacher's salaries for as long as they have been in place.
Many Guatemalan children may still need help financially to attend school, although the removal of the inscription fee is certainly positive!
Posted by: olimomi at September 20, 2008 06:14 PMLast week in Guate, President Colom addressed this in a public forum. No uniforms nor uniformed shoes will be needed to attend public schools.
Marie, Guatadopt.com
See link: http://www.lahora.com.gt/notas.php?key=36641&fch=2008-09-09
Also see the following which state that it is prohibited to charge for inscription, use of uniforms, books and texts and materials. See the link for detailed information of fees allocated for education.
Link: http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2008/septiembre/13/263454.html
El acuerdo gubernativo firmado ayer por el presidente también “prohíbe el cobro de inscripción y venta de uniformes, libros de texto y materiales diversos”.
Posted by: marie at September 20, 2008 08:46 PMI really hope that this legislation will be fully effective. Vince
Posted by: Vince at September 21, 2008 08:39 AMThis is a great first step, but I do not see it as being a major solution. Even if the government follows through and eliminates the inscription (registration) fee and uniform, students will still be required to buy supplies for themselves (backpack, pencils, pens, paper, etc) and gym clothes (shorts, shirt, sneakers). And, there are also field trips and parades that children are expected to participate in (with extra fees charged for this), and non-participation can sometimes affect their grade.
Further, many children cannot afford to attend school because their families rely on the children working and bringing in income to help support the family, or they are responsible for taking care of younger siblings during the day so the parent/s can work. Eliminating one fee will not solve that issue.
And finally, this new legislation doesn't take into account that many children cannot take full advantage of school because their family cannot afford food to feed them - a child is not going to learn well when he is hungry.
This is a good move, and I applaud Pres. Colom for starting off with a bang. But, unfortunately, I don't see this new policy having a huge impact.
Posted by: Denise at September 22, 2008 02:22 PMWell, I think this is a major step, and President Colom should be applauded for trying to make real change in Guatemala. I'm sure there will still be issues to be resolved, but after so many years this is a significant gesture.
Reba
I applaud Pres. Colon for this step! It's about time!!!!
Sincere regards,
Gloria
mom to 5 Guatemalan blessings
Great thing to do of course, but where does the money come from?
How did they have Q270 million to fund this as of Sept 15?