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Scholarships

Why focus on teacher training?

Many rural areas in Guatemala still have no access to education at the high school level (grades 10-12). Foundations is helping to fill this void by providing scholarships for young Mayan students at the high school level and university level. In efforts to engender more qualified and prepared bilingual teachers in the Mayan communities of Guatemala.

Our main focus is to help our students become rural primary school teachers in their native languages. We currently support 87 students who are studying in more than 8 different schools. We are also very proud of our university students, who are studying Bilingual Education, Secundary Education, and Administration in Business.

What are the requirements for a Foundations scholarship?

All of our Maya students are bilingual in their native Mayan language and Spanish. In our current group of scholarship recipients there are 13 of the 23 Mayan languages of Guatemala spoken, and we even have 2 students who speak two native languages in addition to Spanish.

How do scholarship recipients give back to the program?

Foundation students are required to do community service work during their summer vacations. These opportunities gives them valuable experience for what lies ahead after graduation in terms of interacting with their village leaders and exercising their newly acquired leadership skills.

What is the urgency of providing scholarships?

Over 80% of the rural Mayan population live in poverty. Illiteracy in the Quiché region is over 70%, one of the highest in the country. In most rural villages, there are NO middle schools or high schools, and 85% of the middle schools are private. More than 90% of the high schools are private.

Why focus on girls' education?

In many rural Mayan villages, a staggering amount of children never advance past the third grade - a large majority of which is girls who are pulled out of school once they achieve a basic reading level. Foundations sees promoting Mayan girl' education as a huge opportunity to create positive ripple effects in the Mayan communities. This year, we are supporting 87 students, 60% are young women.

Where do Foundations students study?

Socorro Institute for Indigenous Girls in La Antigua Guatemala.

This is a private Catholic boarding school that trains primary teachers. Currently, we have 28 young women at this school. Foundations has had students here for almost 10 years. There are about 130 students in 10th through 12th grade and they are studying to become primary teachers.

Santiago Institute for Indigenous Boys in Guatemala City.

This is a private boarding school specializing in bilingual education for primary teachers, orientation in agriculture, and animal husbandry. This year we have 16 young boys at Santiago. We have had students here for about 10 years. The school is administered by the Religious Brothers of the La Salle.

How much does it cost to support a student?

Below is a breakdown of how much one year costs at certain schools where we have students, as well as the details of what the students receive in the scholarship package.

We have recently added PayPal to make it easier to make a donation or US donors can send a check. Thanking you in advance.