In the mornings, Aroldo Neptali Brito serves as the director of
Escuela Salquilito. It is a public school
on the fringe of Nebaj. The public
schools are fully supported by the Government.
Teachers earn anywhere from $250 to $650 per month depending on their
experience level. In his school, there
are about 33 students per class, a little below the national average. In the afternoons, he walks ten minutes down
the road to Jesus El Maestro, a private Christian school planted by the Church
of God. He has taught classes to Basico
(Junior High) students there the last six years. He teaches ten hours per month and earns just
$25 for doing so. Like all the teachers
in the Christian schools, Aroldo does not teach there for the money, but sees
it as an offering.
Aroldo is definitely not alone in being involved in both types of
education. Teachers can not live on the
money they make at Christian schools and a lot of them teach at government
schools as well. Andres Guzman, the
morning Director of Colegio Metodista Centro Ixil (CEMCI) in Nebaj, earns only
$125 per month leading that program there, and teaches Basico in the afternoon
at a public school as his main source of income.Tabita, the Director of
Colegio Horeb in Cotzal, teaches three hours per day in the afternoon at a public
school as well. She earns nothing as the
Director of Horeb.
Despite significant advantages to private Christian schools, parents
send their children in flocks to the secular schools for one major reason: it
does not cost them anything. Aroldo
tells the story of a Christian school that failed only a couple minutes away
from his school, Colegio Canaan. It was
only in operation for one year because they simply did not have any money to
pay the teachers. The parents of the
children did not want to pay, so they sent their kids to nearby Salquilito
instead.
The three private Christian schools in Nebaj operate with very
little outside support. They were all planted
by their respective churches and the churches only contribute tiny,
undependable offerings each month. As a
result, these schools operate primarily from monthly payments from each child. In Nebaj, parents can pay anywhere from $8
(CEMCI), $10 (Jesus El Maestro, Bethania), to $18 (high school at Bethania) per
month for their children to attend one of these Christian schools. While this may not seem like much money to
many in first world countries, it can be a significant amount to people here.
There are three other private Christian schools in the Ixil
triangle. Unlike the schools in Nebaj,
these schools have some outside support, and thus lower prices for students to
attend. In Chajul, Colegio Metodista Filadelfia
receives financial support from a group in Germany butstudents still have to pay
$4 per month at the Elementary level and $10 per month at the Basico level. Even with this outside support, teachers on
average make less than $100 per month.
In Cotzal, Colegio Horeb is
barely skimping by and pays their teachers a meager $55 per month. WIND of God Ministries is their only major
source of outside support. The cost is
about $3 per month for a student to attend the school, but even at this cost,
there are parents that can not pay.
These children are let in anyway and the Director and teachers quietly
pay the cost for them. While these
teachers could make six times as much teaching at a public school, they see
their labor here as an offering.
In Santa Avelina, parents pay anywhere from $2 per month in the
first grade to $3.50 in the sixth grade.
This school receives significant support from the organization
HELPS. They are the only Christian
school in the entire region that is able to afford to pay the teachers the same
salary as the government, about $300 per month.
The teachers have to go through a special training process before they
can teach there. The result is an
Elementary school that is a shining example in this impoverished region as to
what education can be.
These schools have many advantages over the public schools. One advantage is that each school spends
significant time teaching the Bible to its students. In Santa Avelina, students spend six hours
per week in a Bible class in the afternoon in addition to their studies in the
morning. In Cotzal, there is a one hour
devotion every week where students sing songs, perform a drama out of the
Bible, and a teacher gives a lesson. A
missionary teacher also comes in to classes during the week to teach the Bible. In Chajul, the Basico students have a church
service every other week while the elementary students have a devotion once a
week. The three schools in Nebaj also
have services for their children and teachers teach the Bible in class. Sometimes the Pastor from their respective
churches come and gives a lesson.
Another advantage is that students receive much more attention from
their teachers. In Chajul, the Basico
students receive career counseling. They
are guided in the decision making process of what they will do when they leave
the school. In Cotzal, the first grade
teacher spends much of the time during recess giving extra attention to some
children and helping them with school work.
These are just some examples. The
teacher to student ratio is much smaller in these schools. At these schools class size usually maxes out
around 25 students and can be as low as 8.
There are about 40 children per class in the public schools.
The quality of education at these schools is much higher. The schools in Chajul and Santa Avelina
especially shine. Romualdo, the director
of MetodistaFiladelfia in Chajul, says that many Catholics decide to pay to
send their children to his Evangelical school because of the higher quality of
education. The teachers in Santa Avelina
have to go through a special training process in addition to their degree and
their teachers are especially effective.
The quality of education in the school in Cotzal is at this point only
marginally better, but it has the potential to far exceed the public schools.
Another advantage to Christian schools is its Christian
culture. This is especially important
for the Basico students. As one example,
many girls flock to Metodista Filadelfia in Chajul to avoid sexual advances of
male teachers in the public schools.
More children in the public schools tend to get involved in drinking
alcohol and smoking than in the Christian schools. The culture of the Christian school is
(hopefully) God centered and this makes a big difference.
Aroldo, the director of a public school in Nebaj, does not see much
difference with the Elementary school children in terms of behavior, but
notices a big difference in the Basico level.
Romualdo echoes these sentiments.
He says that the little children will just agree with everything you say
but the older children will think about what you say. It is at this level when they can truly begin
making decisions in what they believe.
All three schools in Nebaj and the school in Chajul have the Basico
level of Christian education. That is
it for the entire Ixil region. The only
Diversificado (high school) Christian school is Colegio Bethania in Nebaj. The students that attend Elementary school in
Cotzal and Santa Avelina will either quit or go on to attend the Basico level
in the public schools. In other words,
at the age when they can really begin to grasp what the Bible says, they will
no longer be at a Bible teaching school.
Basico Christian education is currently a huge need in the Cotzal area.
Of the six Christian schools, only one does not have its own
building. ColegioHoreb in Cotzal rents
time in the morning at a Basico public school.
The condition of its classrooms are very poor with the 4th
and 6th graders meeting in rooms the size of a closet while the sound
travels freely throughout the classrooms because the walls don’t completely
separate them. Churches own the land and
building of the three schools in Nebaj.
Jesus El Maestro has a wonderful facility that was built by the
organization Missionary Ventures and is owned by the Church of God. The Methodist church owns the CEMCI plant and
the Bethania church owns the small facility of Colegio Bethania. The school in Chajul is on the Methodist
Church property. The Santa Avelina
facility was built by HELPS and they have permission to use the land by the
town hall.
The organization Compassion International also plays a role in
Christian education to children. They
operate after school programs throughout the region. The children that come are as young as 3 and
as old as 17. They teach the Bible to
the children, have classes, and help them with their homework. There is one in Nebaj at the Bethania Church
which has 317 children. At Jesus El
Maestro, a Compassion program will start very soon as well. There is one in Cotzal of which 438 children
attend. There are also Compassion
programs in neighboring San Felipe, Chajul, Santa Avelina, and Ojo de Agua.
I asked Romualdo, the Director of the school in Chajul, what he
believed the advantages to Christian education were. After listing a few answers, he then began
talking about the potential of the students under his care. He mused, “some might be policeman, some may
be mayors, some may be pastors, and some may be teachers.” He was talking about the future of the Ixil
people. As these students enter into the
secular world, he recognized that they will be the future leaders of the
community. He is
committed in guiding them in the Light.
The stakes are huge. What can we
do in bolstering Christian education in this region?
