Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice
Project, in May 2015 student Nicolas Lake interviewed five Development with
Justice scholarship recipients at the Cobán campus of Rafael Landívar
University: Domingo, Luis, Juan, Humberto, and Garzon. In this interview, the five scholarship recipients discuss the
scholarship, their university, and discrimination against indigenous people in
Guatemala.
Do you think the scholarship is an act of
charity or an act of social justice?
Juan: For me, it’s an act of justice. It opens opportunities for people who don’t have enough money to take classes at the university, and it opens up that knowledge to people who couldn’t get it otherwise. For me, it opened up the sciences, which I’d always wanted to study. It’s a great opportunity, and it supports the people who need this service.
Luis: For me, to receive the scholarship is a privilege and also a justice. The help that it has given me lets me keep going. For everyone that receives it, it motivates them to keep going with their lives and professions, and because of that it’s an act of social justice.
Garzon: I see it as more an act of justice. The Germans [development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau] realized what problems we had and created a scholarship with values and academic excellence. In the long term, I think this program will help us reach the vision that the Germans have for the country.
Why do you think the scholarship is given to people of a poor economic class?
Luis: Primarily because of the educational impact and the professional improvement that happens. But also for me it’s the culture. You can’t stop new ideas from forming, and although poorer people may not have resources, they bring a different perspective and new ideas to everything they do.
Domingo: People of a poorer economic class are always dreaming and talking about having more opportunities. This scholarship supports that. There are people in this country who have enough money, and I see them talking on Facebook and all they do is criticize, criticize, and criticize. None of them act; they’re always being antagonistic. We’re a very critical country. I want to support our country, and that’s the vision that I had when I took this scholarship. We have to have the perspective to keep moving forward.
Juan: The fact is, in Guatemala you have the right to do a lot of things. It’s a little difficult for the majority of people in this case to seek alternatives for higher education because other universities are private, and most people don’t have the monetary resources to pay the monthly matriculation rates. I work in an area of a lot of unemployment, with youth that have a lot of potential, but they can’t study in a university because they don’t have the money. So, Rafael Landívar University has given this space for those youth so that they can prepare themselves for the working world.
Is there discrimination here at the university?
Luis: In general the university has been very good about practicing and staying true to its values, so I would say no.
Juan: The university has strong values. We have this space to suggest things, to promote different ideas, and you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.
Garzon: I also don’t think that much discrimination exists here. It doesn’t matter how much you know, as long as you’re willing to learn. The university has helped us a lot. Domingo: I don’t think there’s discrimination. My major lets us do our work in very different locations, and we work in teams and always have the freedom to say what we want without fear of discrimination.
Whose responsibility should it be to provide scholarships and opportunities like this? Private universities? The government?
Juan: It should be integrated. Some should be on the state, some on private businesses, some universities, so that these opportunities are available. There should always be space for those who say, “I want to study.”
Humberto: I think it’s the state’s responsibility. Unfortunately our state is a failed state, and the government doesn’t represent the whole population. This help from the Germans is what we want, and we want more of it to open more doors.
Do you think the discrimination present in Guatemalan society comes from the government’s actions or from the communities and individual families? Is there discrimination here at Rafael Landívar University?
Domingo: Here in Guatemala, the people who aren’t economically developed, who have scarce resources, are discriminated against. How can other people resolve this? I think little by little, through education and training.
Luis: In the past there’s been discrimination against indigenous movements, against an indigenous group or town, but presently that doesn’t exist. The state has committed discrimination against the indigenous by not giving them participation. I don’t think, though, that the university has the same discrimination; they’ve been true to their values.
Juan: I think the discrimination and marginalization comes from the state. I haven’t seen a minister of education who is indigenous. The government and power is centralized, so indigenous people don’t have positions and are lacking in most areas. With respect to the development that the government has done, the government, beginning from the executive branch, discriminates against the indigenous, so there isn’t room for us.
How many of the social problems in the country come from a lack of education? Is it the government’s job to provide education for everyone?
Domingo: Our constitution says that it is an obligation of the state to provide education and health care for the population. That’s the state’s duty. In my community we don’t have many educational opportunities. If we had education at the same level that others have it, we could make decisions and better develop, but it is difficult without education.
Juan: For me, it’s an act of justice. It opens opportunities for people who don’t have enough money to take classes at the university, and it opens up that knowledge to people who couldn’t get it otherwise. For me, it opened up the sciences, which I’d always wanted to study. It’s a great opportunity, and it supports the people who need this service.
Luis: For me, to receive the scholarship is a privilege and also a justice. The help that it has given me lets me keep going. For everyone that receives it, it motivates them to keep going with their lives and professions, and because of that it’s an act of social justice.
Garzon: I see it as more an act of justice. The Germans [development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau] realized what problems we had and created a scholarship with values and academic excellence. In the long term, I think this program will help us reach the vision that the Germans have for the country.
Why do you think the scholarship is given to people of a poor economic class?
Luis: Primarily because of the educational impact and the professional improvement that happens. But also for me it’s the culture. You can’t stop new ideas from forming, and although poorer people may not have resources, they bring a different perspective and new ideas to everything they do.
Domingo: People of a poorer economic class are always dreaming and talking about having more opportunities. This scholarship supports that. There are people in this country who have enough money, and I see them talking on Facebook and all they do is criticize, criticize, and criticize. None of them act; they’re always being antagonistic. We’re a very critical country. I want to support our country, and that’s the vision that I had when I took this scholarship. We have to have the perspective to keep moving forward.
Juan: The fact is, in Guatemala you have the right to do a lot of things. It’s a little difficult for the majority of people in this case to seek alternatives for higher education because other universities are private, and most people don’t have the monetary resources to pay the monthly matriculation rates. I work in an area of a lot of unemployment, with youth that have a lot of potential, but they can’t study in a university because they don’t have the money. So, Rafael Landívar University has given this space for those youth so that they can prepare themselves for the working world.
Is there discrimination here at the university?
Luis: In general the university has been very good about practicing and staying true to its values, so I would say no.
Juan: The university has strong values. We have this space to suggest things, to promote different ideas, and you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.
Garzon: I also don’t think that much discrimination exists here. It doesn’t matter how much you know, as long as you’re willing to learn. The university has helped us a lot. Domingo: I don’t think there’s discrimination. My major lets us do our work in very different locations, and we work in teams and always have the freedom to say what we want without fear of discrimination.
Whose responsibility should it be to provide scholarships and opportunities like this? Private universities? The government?
Juan: It should be integrated. Some should be on the state, some on private businesses, some universities, so that these opportunities are available. There should always be space for those who say, “I want to study.”
Humberto: I think it’s the state’s responsibility. Unfortunately our state is a failed state, and the government doesn’t represent the whole population. This help from the Germans is what we want, and we want more of it to open more doors.
Do you think the discrimination present in Guatemalan society comes from the government’s actions or from the communities and individual families? Is there discrimination here at Rafael Landívar University?
Domingo: Here in Guatemala, the people who aren’t economically developed, who have scarce resources, are discriminated against. How can other people resolve this? I think little by little, through education and training.
Luis: In the past there’s been discrimination against indigenous movements, against an indigenous group or town, but presently that doesn’t exist. The state has committed discrimination against the indigenous by not giving them participation. I don’t think, though, that the university has the same discrimination; they’ve been true to their values.
Juan: I think the discrimination and marginalization comes from the state. I haven’t seen a minister of education who is indigenous. The government and power is centralized, so indigenous people don’t have positions and are lacking in most areas. With respect to the development that the government has done, the government, beginning from the executive branch, discriminates against the indigenous, so there isn’t room for us.
How many of the social problems in the country come from a lack of education? Is it the government’s job to provide education for everyone?
Domingo: Our constitution says that it is an obligation of the state to provide education and health care for the population. That’s the state’s duty. In my community we don’t have many educational opportunities. If we had education at the same level that others have it, we could make decisions and better develop, but it is difficult without education.
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