The Guatemalan Education System

This study reveals how education has developed in Guatemala since 1944. It shall develop the context in which this took place and the repercussions thereof – repercussions which continue to have an influence to this day. It will deal with current topics of interest, such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), as well as the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) activities which have been carried out on both local and national levels. The study also provides a description of this said education system’s structure, based on its legislation and UNESCO’s 2011 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). What is more, it offers a short, concise, and current overview of how the education system is organized into two subsystems — formal and nonformal — accompanied by some data which provide coverage of the different levels of education, as well as the resources and respective investments. In the last section, the study will describe some of the specific educational realities facing individual groups, such as children and young immigrants, bilingual and intercultural education and — to a somewhat wider extent — the disabled population. With regard to this last topic, the study will also discuss some of the most important and unsolved issues facing this group of people, as well as the necessity for their overall development.

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Notes

Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (1899–1974) was a Guatemalan writer, journalist, and diplomat who contributed to the development of Latin American literature. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967. This makes him the third American author to win this prize who was not from the United States. He had an influence on Western culture and, at the same time, raised awareness of the importance of indigenous cultures in Guatemala.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum (b. 1959) is an indigenous Guatemalan leader of K'iche’ Mayan descent. She is a defender of human rights, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1992), and winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation (1998). She has written several books: Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la consciencia (1983), La nieta de los Mayas (1998), Li M'in (2000), and El vaso de miel (2002).

Helen Mack (b. 1952) is a Guatemalan human rights activist and one of the country’s most respected political figures. At the height of the armed conflict, she raised her voice to defend the legacy of her sister, anthropologist Myrna Mack, who was assassinated in 1990. She also condemned the suffering of indigenous populations which were displaced by the war, especially that of the Ixil people. She has gained international recognition as a key figure in the fight against impunity in Guatemala. In 1993, she created the Myrna Mach Foundation (Fundación Myrna Mack) with the aim of seeking justice for the assassination of her sister and for the thousands of citizens who lost their lives at the hands of the military during the civil war.

See website for further information: http://conadi.gob.gt/web/acceso-a-la-informacion-2/ For further information, see: https://www.sbs.gob.gt/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guatemala City, Guatemala Ligia Oviedo Gasparico
  1. Ligia Oviedo Gasparico