What We Do
Schools in indigenous villages in Guatemala are often underfunded. Students lack sufficient school supplies. Teachers need more educational materials. Books are absent in the classroom. Many villages do not even have schools after 6th grade.
Next Step Equal Education helps indigenous Guatemalan students get the education they deserve by giving them the resources they need. We collaborate with parents, teachers, and local leaders in indigenous villages so that each community can address their unique concerns and achieve their goals.
Q'eqchi' Villages in Alta Verapaz
Indigenous Maya make up over 40% of Guatemala’s population. In different regions, the Maya have different cultures and languages. Where we work in Alta Verapaz, the people are from the Q’eqchi’ culture. Many Q’eqchi’ people in Alta Verapaz live in villages in the mountains where their family has lived for generations.
Agriculture is the main source of income in these villages. Their primary crop is corn, which they grow mainly for their own consumption, along with chili peppers, beans, cacao, and pineapples. They also sell some of their crops, including an increasing amount of cardamom, to pay for necessities, but subsistence farming leaves families with little extra money for expenses like education.
Local schools in villages suffer from many problems. Schoolhouses are often old and small with dirt floors. Learning materials are insufficient and not in the students’ native language. Many villages do not even have a secondary school nearby. Our goal is to remedy this by collaborating with communities to bring them the resources they need to improve their schools.
LEAP
Local Education Advancement Program
LEAP
Local Education Advancement Program
LEAP contains projects designed in collaboration with indigenous communities to improve village schools by addressing the lack of resources available to them. Schools receive little funding from the government, so teachers lack the materials they need to teach. The low quality of education in local schools causes many students to drop out.
In LEAP, the teachers, parents, and local leaders decide what resources are most needed for their school, thereby giving them the power and self-determination to better educate their children. Together, we can empower and support these communities. You can Champion a child’s education for only $8 a month.
Scholarship Program
Scholarship Program
In many remote villages in Guatemala, there are no secondary schools only elementary schools. So children who do not have the means to move to the nearest town, usually hours away, to study are forced to drop out of school after completing just the sixth grade. This lack of access to education means that opportunities are greatly diminished for indigenous Guatemalans.
Our scholarship program helps dedicated students continue their education despite many obstacles. For many of our Next Step Scholars, they are the first in their family to attend secondary school. You can help by making a one time donation to the scholarship fund, or committing to a monthly donation to become a sponsor of one of these students.