"The exploitative systems in Latin America need illiterate people."

      Fr. Fernando Cardenal, Minister of Education, 1979 -1990

 

The right to education was one of the greatest achievements won by the Nicaraguan people during the 1980's.  In 1979, just months after the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship, the new government organized a massive literacy campaign, reducing the national illiteracy rate from a national average of 60%  to 12%.  Seventeen thousand volunteer teachers, taught fellow citizens to read and write.  Children from poor families had access to University education for the first time in history.  The government of Nicaragua was internationally recognized for its historic achievement in reversing a legacy of illiteracy and human exploitation, even in the midst of the U.S. backed contra war.

During the decade of the ‘90's however, subsequent governments adopted the neo-liberal policies of the World Bank and IMF that cut national budget expenditures by transferring education costs to parents through school fees.  School fees posed an insurmountable barrier for poor families.  By 2006, 48% of school aged children and youths were, once again, not attending school. 

According to Adolfo Acevedo of the Coordinadora Civil, "Over the last 16 years, children from the poorest homes, the vast majority, have been excluded from the educational system.  As a result, over one million children entered the labor market with two to five years of schooling.  This generation is condemned to survive the next 50 years of their adult lives in absolute poverty."

 

The Institute John the XXIII, has been working vigorously to reverse this reality.
For the last five years, the PHD program has had a dramatic impact on education in 15 communities in 5 municipalities where we work.  The promotion of primary and adult education, training for teachers, and advocacy training for community leaders is reducing illiteracy and empowering the poor.  In stark contrast to national trends, in these communities school enrollment has increased and retention is now close to 100%. 

In the United States, the Quest for Peace supports these efforts by challenging World Bank and IMF policies.  We also collect school supplies for Nicaragua and provide financial support for educational programs.

 In 2007, the new Minister of Education abolished school fees, reestablishing free and universal education.  As a result, over one million children were able to return to school last year.  For 2008, the Ministry of Education has set the goal of teaching one half a million people to read and write. 

The well-honed work of Institute John XXIII will help to meet this goal admirable goal. 
In 2008 - 2012, the Institute will expand this experience in 5 municipalities encompassing a total of 260 communities. We need your help to expand our educational efforts and reestablish the right to education that the poor of Nicaragua have struggled so long to achieve.

Here are ways you can help:

   To make a donation click here:

•  Teacher Training - $250 provides teacher training to increase the educational levels and pedagogical skills of teachers in order to provide quality education and raise the educational levels of communities to the 5^th-6^th grades.
• Feeding Programs - $100 will help provide a solid meal to school children, improve nutrition and preserve a retention rate near 100%.
• School Supplies - $50 ships 10 boxes of school supplies for Nicaraguan children collected by school children in the United States.

Or to donate school supplies for Nicaraguan children: 

 

        Join the Clean Your Desk Campaign- organize your local school, church or community group to collect school supplies for children in Nicaragua. 

Download the organizers packet 

Call Sr. Carol Ries a for more information at 301-699-0042