Guatemala Starts Open
Schools Program
The Guatemalan
government put a program
called “Open Schools”
for children and young
people to develop their
artistic, intellectual
or sport flairs on
Saturdays and Sundays.
This plan is applied in
countries like Brazil,
Mexico and Argentina
successfully, and in
Guatemala, it started in
four centers located in
the red zones of the
Guatemalan capital,
where young people is in
a greater risk of being
victims of criminals,
said Guatemalan
President Alvaro Colom.
During the next months
of the year, the program
could be spread to 40
establishments to
benefit 12,000 students.
Colom said there is a
whole project for
schools to give chances
for spaces for fun,
recreation and rest,
offering training
courses, sport and
cultural activities for
young people, in order
to keep them far from
being joined to criminal
bands.
The idea arose during
the visit of President
Colom to Brazil, where
he had the opportunity
to carry out a tour on
Brazilian Santa Maria
Center, in which the
Open Schools Program is
developed with success.
This program will be
added to others applied
by the Guatemalan
government to help the
poorest sectors, among
them a program called Mi
Familia Progresa,
consisting in the
delivery of about 40
dollars a month to the
parents to send their
children to study.
According to official
data, more than a
million children do not
attend the school in
Guatemala, and the index
of illiteracy overcomes
25 percent of the
population, although in
the rural areas it goes
up to 40 percent.
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