Practical Secondary Education

Practical Secondary Education
The Fr. Tom Moran Center
The goal of Ak' Tenamit’s education program is to provide Q’eqchi Maya youth with the knowledge, skills and motivation to help themselves and their people. In response to growing demand for secondary education from families in the area’s indigenous villages, and thanks to the help of generous donors. Ak’ Tenamit opened the Father Tom Moran Educational Center in 2001. The Center’s structures have been built by students and their parents (with help from international volunteers), and students continue to perform much of the janitorial and maintenance work required to keep the school running. The Center is located on 140 acres of land, predominantly covered with rain forest, and has round classrooms with thatch roofs in keeping with local culture, student dorms, a library and computer lab, an organic farm, a handicraft training center, and a tourist area with a nature trail, gift shop and restaurant.

Traditional education in Guatemala is relatively rigid and urban-biased, so Ak’ Tenamit adapted the national curriculum to a student-based Tutorial Learning System developed in Colombia for rural communities. Subjects such as math, science, and Spanish are taught within the context of their rural setting and are complemented by training in sustainable agriculture, rural development, sustainable tourism and Q’eqchí cultural traditions. Students receive on-the-job experience at the project’s farm, restaurants, and handicraft operations, where they work their way through all levels and learn how to manage a small business. By the time they graduate, they have 3,000 hours of on-the-job experience and an array of practical skills.

Practical Secondary Education The Moran Center offers a fully integrated education complete with cultural and sports opportunities, and it inculcates students with a sense of democracy, cooperation, and community service. Most are boarders, since they are from relatively distant villages, and all students come from poor families that would be unable to send their children to school if not for Ak’ Tenamit’s scholarship program.

The students are well aware of what an important opportunity they’ve been given and they have a strong sense of ownership of the school. In addition to their day-to-day tasks, students return to the Moran Center during vacations to help with construction projects, which are needed to meet growing demand. They also organize projects in their communities so that their families and neighbors benefit from the knowledge and practical skills they gain at the Moran Center. Students also donate a year of volunteer work to Ak’ Tenamit upon graduation, in payment for their education, and work on projects to help their people. In addition to instilling students with cultural pride and a sense of civic duty, Ak’ Tenamit promotes gender equality, to counter the male culture that dominates Guatemalan society, and makes a special effort to recruit and retain female students as part of its We Must Educate the Girls program.

Education: Overview | Elementary Education | Secondary Education | Educating Girls