What quality describes a transformed Honduras? – Karin Alcerro
10/16/2020 2020-12-07 20:58What quality describes a transformed Honduras? – Karin Alcerro
Author: Karin Alcerro
At the beginning of 2019, I received news that would change my life forever: I was going to be a dad. Among all the concerns that arise when such a great responsibility is on the way, the one that made me and still makes me the most nervous, is the type of school education that my daughter will have access to. I spent my elementary years in a private bilingual educational system that I was able to access thanks to my father’s work. However, I had to go to the public system when I entered high school and the shock was great. This change opened my eyes to the reality that millions of Honduran children experience every day. Now, 18 years later, I am very aware of the importance for the future of youth to develop in a high value educational environment.
According to the Social Progress Index, since 2011 our country occupies the last place in Central America in access to basic knowledge, which is acquired mainly in primary schools. Additionally, in 2020, Honduras ranks 121st out of 163 countries worldwide with respect to the absence of girls in schools. This means that many of our daughters and sons do not even make it to a classroom in their first years of life, and that those who do, receive a very poor quality education. From a very young age, Honduran youth is experiencing the country’s shortcomings first-hand, and these are getting worse year after year. From a very early age, Hondurans encounter problems that other countries in the region have already managed to solve.
For me, the Honduras of the future must offer to its children a free and compulsory primary and secondary education, following high international standards. In my future Honduras, my daughter will be born with a quality education assured, like all the children of our country. In my Honduras of the future, no mother or father will be forced to make economic sacrifices to access educational alternatives and offer a better future to their daughters or sons.
How can we get to this Honduras of the future? We have to put pressure on the Government, which is the only one that can make this dream a reality. We have to demand this change with a lot of energy, getting involved in questioning the quality of education our children receive. And every progress we achieve, we will have to defend ardently. This is, in my opinion, the first step to escape from the delays that we have been accumulating for years.