La Escuela San Pedro
One of the Finca’s main services to the children is education. La Escuela San Pedro, staffed by Hondurans and American volunteers, is one of the best schools in the region. It is for both the Finca orphans as well as those from neighboring communities. In Honduras, especially rural Honduras, the availability of quality education is sparse. Its importance is often overruled by the need of the family for an additional provider, thus causing the child to drop out and stay home to either work or take care of other siblings. The family size (which is consistently larger than in the United States) greatly affects the child’s education enrollment[1]. The older the child becomes, the greater the risk of dropping out.
The Finca is doing all that it can to contradict this trend. However, just looking at the school enrollment numbers for the colegio - 7th to 9th grade - is disheartening. While the 7th grade in the 2010-2011 school year had 11 students, the 9th grade class only had 4 students. Looking on the positive side, however, Hondurans are only required to attend school through the 6th grade, so these colegio students are going above and beyond what is expected of the their country and society.
In America, we very much understand the value of education. This appreciation is not paralled in Honduras. The Finca, however, provides education with high standards, and as a result, many families desire to send their children there. I see a bidirectional benefit to this. Primarily, the children are receiving an education they otherwise would not have the opportunity to receive. The other schools in Trujillo are known for their poor quality. Secondarily, the Finca is slowly changing the mentality in this rural community in regards to education. Seeing such devoted teachers, and students, has helped the community to understand what education can do for a person. This understanding, however, is not just in American terms. The point of this education is not to get the students to the United States. It is to allow the students to find and be prepared for work and opportunities in Honduras. Being so rural, this community does not fully understand the workings of the rest of the country. This education, however, is preparing these Honduran children to hopefully play a role in this larger community.
[1] Bedi, A.S., and Marshall, J.H. School Attendance and Student Achievment: Evidence from Rural Honduras. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 1999 April, 47(3)657-682.