Intercultural bilingual education in Guatemala

A teacher works with a K’iche’ Maya student at her school in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala.

Intercultural bilingual education in Guatemala was begun as part of a twentieth-century educational reform effort intended to promote the coutry's cultural diversity. Intercultural bilingual education programs represent a shift from the assimilationist policy of educational programs that promote Spanish literacy in order to reduce the use of indigenous languages. Intercultural bilingual education merges Mayan language and culture with Spanish language and Ladino culture. Through the twentieth-century, education reform evolved from Castilianization and the Bilingual Castilianization Program (1965) to the National Bilingual Education Project (1980). Each program aimed at increasing Spanish fluency.^[1] In 1985, the Constitution legally officialized bilingual education and the Ministry of Education formed the Programa Nacional de Educación Bilingüe (also called PRONEBI). PRONEBI developed from the National Bilingual Education Project, which ran from 1980–1984, and aimed to provide bilingual education to rural indigenous children.

PRONEBI differed from former education programs by recognizing the value of Mayan culture and language within Guatemala's multicultural and plurilinguistic context. Thus, PRONEBI has played a major role in institutionalizing bilingual education that is also intercultural. As of 2005, there were bilingual programs in Q’eqchi’, Achi’, Kaqchikel, Ch’orti’, Poqomam, Mam, Q’anjob’al, Garifuna, Mopán, K’iche’, Tz’utujil, and Xinka.^[2] Most recently, the Ministry of Education’s Strategic Plan for Education 2012-2016 has cited bilingual, intercultural education as a national priority.^[3]

Advances in intercultural bilingual education programs in Guatemala have resulted in both critique and support from Mayan activists, indigenous communities and international scholars and activists.

Context

Ethnolinguistic Context

Guatemala is a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual country, as cited in the Constitution of 1985, which recognizes the rights to cultural identity (Article 58) and states that bilingual instruction is preferable in regions with large indigenous populations.^[4] Guatemala's population is multiethnic, since Guatemalans identify as mestizo, or mixed Amerindian-Spanish (see Ladino people), European, and Mayan. Guatemala's population is 59% mestizo and European and 40% Mayan.^[5] Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, with 60% of the population speaking Spanish; speakers of Amerindian languages constitute 40% of the population, and the government officially recognizes 23 Amerindian languages.^[6] Education policy distinguishes between Mayan and Ladino education but does not address education of the Xinca population (whose language is now extinct) or of the Garífuna (who speak Garífuna).^[7][8] Guatemala is one of a number of countries in Latin America whose governments have recently implemented explicitly intercultural and bilingual curricula. Other Latin American countries that have implemented intercultural bilingual education reforms include Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua and Mexico.

In Guatemala, Spanish and Mayan languages are not only tied to ethnic and cultural identity but also rooted historically in the process of colonization and nation-building. In the 1940s, Mayan cultural and linguistic diversity was regarded as an "Indian problem," and bilingual education programs sought to educate native Mayan language speakers in their first language in order to facilitate future Spanish literacy. Central to these bilingual education programs was the objective that Mayan language speakers would eventually transition to Spanish language use.

Political Context

The development and institutionalization of intercultural bilingual education programs coincided with the 36-year Guatemalan Civil War. The Peace Accords, signed December 1996, ended the Guatemalan Civil War which, over the course of four decades, had most violently attacked and displaced the Mayan population. In part, the Peace Accords of 1996 represented the state’s renewed commitment to sustaining Mayan culture, and the revitalization of Mayan language was featured centrally in the new political and cultural discourse.^[9] One of the five sets of Peace Accords, called "The Accords on the Identity and Rights of the Indigenous Peoples," devotes one of its three sections specifically to Mayan rights.^[10] Signed March 31, 1995, this agreement divides Mayan rights into "Cultural Rights" and "Civil, Political, Social and Economic Rights." Within the section titled "Cultural Rights," language is privileged within the broader concept of culture.^[10] This section enumerates the practices that would elevate the status of Mayan languages; within these specific measures, bilingual education is listed as a way of earning Mayan languages equal respect alongside Spanish.^[10] The seven measures to elevate Mayan language use as a cultural right are: "constitutional recognition; bilingual education and Mayan language education; the use of Mayan languages in government services in Mayan communities; informing the indigenous peoples of their rights; training bilingual judges and interpreters; fostering appreciation of indigenous languages; promoting the officialization of indigenous languages."^[10] The demands of the Peace Accords maintain and institutionalize bilingual education but diverge from early attempts at indigenous assimilation to dominant society through bilingual education by explicitly promoting Mayan language education.

Disparities in Education

Several factors create large disparities in educational opportunities available to Guatemalan children and their academic success once enrolled in school. These factors are related to geographical location, ethnicity, and gender. Statistics suggest that the region in which schoolchildren live may partially determine their economic opportunities, since rural illiteracy rates are much higher than urban illiteracy rates.^[11] While 40% of the population identifies as indigenous, only half of indigenous children are enrolled in school, while two-thirds of non-indigenous children are enrolled.^[5][11] Among adults, the average educational level of an indigenous worker is 1.6 years of schooling, while a non-indigenous worker averages 5 years of schooling.^[11] Within the indigenous population, educational levels of men and women vary greatly: Half of indigenous men have no formal education, while three-quarters of indigenous women have no formal education.^[11] Indigenous men have also shifted more easily to bilingualism than indigenous women.^[4][10]

Early bilingual education programs

Castilianization

After gaining independence in 1821, the government of Guatemala advanced an assimilationist policy for the country's indigenous peoples.^[1] Officially, the national language was Spanish and the government proposed teaching Spanish to the indigenous population in order to create national unity.^[1] Though limited resources and the inaccessibility of rural areas made it impossible to fully enforce this policy, the government maintained this assimilationist policy of Hispanicization (or Castellanización) until the mid-1900s.^[1] Castilianization was instituted as a formal program in rural areas before 1940, and it divided students in a preprimary grade, itself called "Castilianization," and a first grade. Castilianization was conceived as a preparatory year in which oral Spanish would be taught and indigenous children could acclimate to formal school environment.^[10]

Bilingual Castilianization Program, 1965

The Bilingual Castilianization Program was intended to address the issues in bilingual education that had not been resolved through Castilianization, specifically the low-level Spanish proficiency of indigenous children. The development of the Bilingual Castilianization Program coincided with both the issuance of the Constitution of 1966, which declared Spanish the national language, and the Education Law, which required the use of Spanish as the language of instruction and allowed for indigenous language use only in order to further Spanish literacy.^[1] The Bilingual Castilianization Program capitalized on this clause by beginning schooling for Mayan children one year before normal school entry in order to improve literacy in the mother language and provide simultaneous instruction in Spanish.^[1] Instead of employing teachers, the Bilingual Castilianization Program enlisted bilingual "promoters" who spent part of their time teaching children and part of their time serving the community through adult literacy classes.^[10][12] Language lessons were characterized by individual and group recitation of Spanish texts and copying of Mayan language and Spanish texts.^[4] The program originally served speakers of Ixil and later extended to rural communities of the four major indigenous languages of Guatemala, K'iche', Kaqchikel, Q'eqchi', and Mam.^[12]

The Bilingual Castilianization Program was designed to assimilate and acculturate Mayan children.^[10] Logistically, problems arose related to language abilities and dialects of the bilingual promoters. Some bilingual promoters spoke another dialect that was unintelligible to their students and so they resorted to Spanish.^[10] Furthermore, some bilingual promoters argued that students needed as much access to Spanish as possible, and so they used Spanish in the classroom before the scheduled time.^[10] Opposition to the program also came from parents, since they argued that their children were sent to school to learn Spanish.^[10] The Bilingual Castilianization Program only succeeded at providing bilingual promoters and resources to 20% of eligible children.^[4]

Evaluations showed improved academic performance of indigenous students as a result of the program, but Spanish skills were still not sufficiently developed to allow students to succeed in monolingual Spanish schools.^[4]

National Bilingual Education Project, 1980-1984

The National Bilingual Education Project was a pilot program intended to test the effectiveness of an extended bilingual education program in primary schools. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which had been working with the government of Guatemala since 1979, provided some funding for the project.^[4][11] The project cost over US$3 million; a USAID grant covered two-thirds of the cost and the Guatemalan government covered the remaining third of the cost.^[4] For the pre-primary year of Castilianization through second grade, the project provided materials for all academic subjects in K'iche', Kaqchikel, Q'eqchi', and Mam.^[4] The project used ten pilot schools for each language, totaling 40 schools.^[4] The pilot schools were chosen randomly but carefully matched with control schools so that the results of the project could be assessed.^[4] The evaluations of the pilot schools showed higher scores in academic subjects, higher promotion rates, and lower dropout rates.^[4]

National Bilingual Education Program (PRONEBI), 1985

In 1984, the National Bilingual Education Program (PRONEBI) was established as a permanent institution of the the Ministry of Education through Government Accord No. 1093-84.^[13] In cooperation with the Ministry of Education Directorate of Rural Social Education, PRONEBI has made notable improvements to intercultural bilingual programs. International funding has in part enabled it to develop educational programs and supply schools with resources, such as bilingual textbooks, and teachers trained to teach in a bilingual classroom. For the first five years, PRONEBI was financed by a loan of US$10.2 million and a grant of US$3.3 million from USAID and US$25 million in funds from the Guatemalan government.^[4] Implementation of bilingual education programs varies depending on region and the availability of resources, but PRONEBI's education model provides for parallel instruction in Spanish and a Mayan language from preprimary level through fourth grade.^[14] PRONEBI has faced obstacles to the implementation of intercultural bilingual education programs, among them the economic cost of developing bilingual resources for classrooms, the lack of bilingual teachers, and the linguistic variation among Mayan languages and their regional dialects.

Guatemala's National Bilingual Education Program, or PRONEBI, responds to the position that language is at the center of cultural identity. Officially, PRONEBI’s mission was “to strengthen Mayan ethnic identity, and to promote the ‘integral’ and ‘harmonious’ development of the Indian population with the linguistic context of a plural Guatemalan society ‘so that it may respond to its own authentic needs and legitimate interests.” ^[15] Initially focusing on K'iche', Kaqchikel, Q'eqchi and Mam language communities, the five-year goal of PRONEBI was to provide bilingual education in 800 schools. Half of these schools, called "complete schools," would establish a bilingual curriculum for preschool through fourth grade.^[12] After the fourth year of schooling, students follow a monolingual Spanish curriculum.^[11] The other 400 schools, called "incomplete schools," would only offer the preschool curriculum.^[12]

Within PRONEBI, the Section of Curricular Development designs and distributes bilingual resources for students and teachers.^[10]

Outcomes of PRONEBI

Early assessments of the bilingual programs implemented through PRONEBI demonstrated the programs were consistent with Guatemalan public policy and especially focused on strengthening native language skills in the early school years in order to accelerate Spanish language acquisition in later years.^[16]

Bilingual education programs have reduced repetition and dropout rates and improved students' performance in subjects like reading, writing, math and Spanish.^[11] In a study from 1986-1991, results showed that indigenous students enrolled in the bilingual program improved their academic performance.^[11] PRONEBI especially benefits girls, since indigenous boys in PRONEBI schools performed as well as non-PRONEBI boys, but PRONEBI girls outperformed non-PRONEBI girls.^[11] Within PRONEBI, results varied between students at complete schools and incomplete schools. Overall, students at complete PRONEBI schools received higher test scores than students at incomplete PRONEBI schools.^[11]

Proficiency in Spanish by the end of the fourth year of schooling suggests further academic success, since a solid foundation in Spanish gives students an advantage in the monolingual Spanish curriculum that follows after the fourth year of school.^[11] Long-term projections suggest that bilingual education may improve economic opportunities for indigenous Guatemalans and reduce the existing income disparity between Guatemala's indigenous and non-indigenous populations.^[11]

Projections associated with the World Bank suggest that PRONEBI, by reducing repetition rates among students, may ultimately reduce the cost of education in Guatemala.^[11] However, increased costs to implementing bilingual education programs, especially as PRONEBI expands to more rural areas and less widely-spoken languages, may offset the savings earned through bilingual education programs.^[11]

Public response to PRONEBI

Mayan parents today recognize the value of Spanish literacy for their children, especially since Spanish language skills increase job opportunities.^[7] Parents also recall older times when Spanish language use was compulsory in formal education settings.^[7][10] At the same time, Mayan parents maintain minimal expectations for their children, specifically that they learn arithmetic and Spanish language skills (reading, writing and listening).^[7] The official education system, therefore, may be deemed "extra," an education accessory to the community education received through family. This community education includes values and principles that may or may not be taught at school, including a positive attitude toward work, discipline, community spirit, respect, and gender roles.^[7] Bridging the academic development of the student at school and at home presents more challenges, especially when parents are monolingual Mayan language speakers. Still, as long as their children truly learn Spanish at PRONEBI schools, Mayan parents generally view the program positively.^[11]

PRONEBI has received both critique and praise nationally and internationally. Although PRONEBI falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, some people critique PRONEBI for being "too Mayan."^[1] PRONEBI explicitly attempts to prevent the use of Spanish loanwords, or hispanicisms, in bilingual classrooms.^[4] In bilingual schools, teachers often express concepts that do not exist in Mayan languages, like "flashlight" or "numerator," by using Spanish loanwords. PRONEBI aims to secure the "purity" of Mayan languages by encouraging the development of neologisms, using the lexicons of Mayan languages, to express foreign concepts.^[4] However, some Mayan intellectuals and activists counter that PRONEBI is not sufficiently representative of Mayan identity.^[1]

Critiques of the educational programs are often related to the obstacles that PRONEBI has faced in implementing the programs, for example, disparities in the amount of resources available to speakers of each Mayan language or the standardization of a Mayan alphabet that is not representative of all languages within the Mayan language family. Critics of the education reforms have claimed that bilingual resources still marginalize Mayan worldview, either tacitly or overtly, and thus perpetuate European ethnocentrism.^[17] Proponents of the intercultural bilingual educational programs claim that PRONEBI restores social value to Mayan languages and culture. In some cases, intercultural bilingual education for children may motivate adults within indigenous communities to begin or continue indigenous language learning informally or through Mayan revitalization organizations.

References