New Technologies and Literacy Learning in a Mayan School in Guatemala

Vol. 3 No. 2

Year: 2007

Issue: Sep-Nov

Title: New Technologies and Literacy Learning in a Mayan School in Guatemala 

Author Name: Midge Madden, Jane Sullivan 

Synopsis: 

Faculty, staff and alumni from Rowan University recently traveled to Antigua, Guatemala  to conduct a technology assessment so that a three to four times yearly teacher training program can be expanded to a year round online professional development program.Since 2002, Rowan Reading Professor Midge Madden and  Professor Emeritus Jane Sullivan have been promoting literacy in Guatemala public schools through teacher workshops and more focused week-long literacy institutes. Illiteracy is to a critical problem in Guatemala, where 77% of the population do not attend school beyond sixth grade.  Three realities contribute to this statistic: 1) there is limited access to middle and high schools for many students, particularly poor children in rural areas; 2) public schooling is not free; students must buy their own books/supplies and uniforms; and 3) teacher training is at best minimal - elementary school teachers need only a high school diploma and there are few baccalaureate teacher training programs to train middle and high school teachers..  Consequently, large numbers of people in Guatemala cannot read or write. The Republica de Guatemala Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Censos Nacionales XI de Poblacion y VI de Habitacion 2002 reports the following:Education, public and private, is paid for by individual families. The only difference between public and private is the level of cost. Public education costs less, but oftentimes it is too much for the average family and the children are not able to study. Fact: 67% of all Guatemalans children 7-14 years old do not attend school.This is the reality of schooling in Guatemala.