A Discussion with Elvira Cordova de Cordova, Teacher, Nueva Trinidad, El Salvador

With: Elvira Cordova de Cordova Berkley Center Profile

July 1, 2011

Background: As part of the Education and Global Social Justice Project, in July 2011, undergraduate student Codie Kane interviewed Elvira Cordova de Cordova, a school teacher in Los Pozos, Nueva Trinidad, El Salvador, and an active member of the local parish. In this interview, Elvira Cordova de Cordova discusses the development of the education system in Los Pozos, the role of the church and popular teachers in this development, and the challenges facing the education system in Los Pozos.

Tell me about your experience as a teacher and community member. How did you arrive at your present career?

I was born in Los Pozos and began my education here. When I was in the fourth grade, there was a massacre in a nearby village. The violence prompted all of the teachers at the local school to flee and the government to retract educational services in the area. Soon, my family also decided to leave. We moved to a different village to escape the escalating civil war. Because of this and because of our economic situation, I couldn’t continue studying; I had to start working. After four years, we moved back to Los Pozos. We no longer had the financial resources to remain where we had been living, and we had to return to where we had land and other family.

At about this time, the need for education in Los Pozos was becoming a serious issue. The Arcatao parish began working with the community to find someone to who could give classes. They found a candidate but, in 1988 she had an accident and had to discontinue work. Concerned that the students here were once again without a teacher, the priests began asking around again to find others who would fill the role. They approached my parents and asked if my sister and I would teach. We initially refused, arguing that we were too young to do so. We were only fourteen and felt unprepared. They promised to support and train us, however, and eventually got us to agree. In 1989, we began teaching.

Quickly, the parish made good on their offer. The priests organized our training, gave us course materials and resources, and supported us economically. They brought experts to teach us about classroom dynamics, didactics, methodology, etc. Every 15 days, we, along with all of the popular teachers in the region, got together to participate in workshops and to prepare our lessons for the coming week.

We also began working to pursue our own education. I got through the ninth grade thanks to a woman who gave night classes in a nearby village. She allowed me to continue teaching during the day at the same time as I completed my studies. For high school, I went to Arcatao. Classes were designed for popular teachers like myself and held on weekends, from Thursday until Sunday afternoon.

Throughout, studying was made difficult by the lack of electricity here. In our night classes, we put a single gas lamp in the middle of the group so we could see. We had to do the same to do our homework. All of the nearby teachers and I would get together to study so we could share a lamp and save gas. We often didn’t stop working until 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. in the morning.

Then, as I was preparing to go to university, I got engaged. My marriage was arranged, set up between my mother-in-law and my family. I agreed to it on the condition that I could keep studying. I said, “I’ll get married if you let me continue to learn.” They approved, and I began taking university courses. This turned out to be very difficult. I was studying at night and on weekends, teaching during the day, and caring for a family. Every day, I had to wake up early to make it to the river in time to wash everyone’s clothes, bring food to my husband working in the fields, and then get to class to teach. When I got pregnant for the first time, I added children to my list of responsibilities. My husband and mother-in-law began caring for my daughter when she was only 40 days old so I could go to class. Despite this, I had pretty good grades. I ended up failing language arts because I was so overloaded, but my otherwise clean record allowed me to keep my spot in the university rather than being suspended. I graduated in 1999.

At this point, the Ministry of Education began to recognize the popular schools in the region. Though it had previously ignored them or deemed them subversive, the ministry came to realize that it had a stake in their success if it wanted to reduce national illiteracy. It didn’t send support or resources, however. Instead, it sent a teacher to Los Pozos to collect statistics on the school and our students. He didn’t actually work; he simply took all of our student records and passed them into the hands of the state. He took an inventory of our materials, including some books and programs that we had written ourselves. Later, we saw almost exact copies of these books promoted by the Ministry of Education.

After this, the popular teachers began fighting for official recognition as well. The state had sanctioned popular schools but had yet to acknowledge their staff. The Education with Participation of the Community (EDUCO) program was proposed as a manner of integrating the teachers into the system. It gradually added them to the government payroll. At first, only two teachers here were included. I got an official teaching position, as did another woman. We divided our salaries among the rest until they were recognized, too.

I have now been involved in education for 22 years. I’ve been the school director on various occasions. I’ve taught every grade from preschool to ninth. I’ve even given adult education classes via radio.

Describe to me the state of education in your community, Carasque, from your point of view. What are the positive aspects? What are the challenges?

In Los Pozos, almost everyone under the age of 35 years old can read and write. Most of them have at least gotten up to sixth grade. We now have professionals in the community. There are teachers, a nurse, etc. In general, there seems to be more interest in pursuing education. This year, more students than ever are going to high school. Many youth are now attending technical school or university.

Those who decide to go to college find most of their support in the parish. They are provided with scholarships so they can pay for school and housing in San Salvador through the Desarollo Hermano Popular project. There are currently two sisters from Los Pozos who are particularly good examples of recipients. They were abandoned by their parents and live with their grandmother. If they had to pay themselves, they’d never be able to study. Thanks to the assistance provided by the program, however, one is studying to be a social worker and the other is studying nutrition. Through the help of the parish and their own determination, they’re succeeding.

The educational environment here, additionally, is quite positive. Unlike the schools in urban areas, we’ve had very few problems among students. We don’t have gangs or drugs. We try to promote healthy choices in the classroom. We even have a physical education program in which a teacher comes in once a week to do gym with the kids and teach about living well.

Nevertheless, we face significant challenges. The school in Los Pozos is limited. It cannot offer students quality education, because it does not have the resources to do so. It lacks materials and technology. It needs structural repairs. The classrooms are inadequate, and the roof hasn’t been replaced in years.

The government doesn’t seem to understand this. They are constantly promoting new programs without addressing our basic needs. They are currently considering a project, for instance, that would increase the length of the school day to eight hours. The students wouldn’t be in class the whole time, but would instead spend a few hours engaged in extracurricular activities. The Ministry of Education doesn’t realize how difficult it would be for us to implement this. It has yet to answer many of our questions. Where will we get the expertise and the materials to conduct the types of activities that interest students? What if students need to help their parents work during the day? Will they be given food? Another ministry initiative is to require that students conduct their own research. This sounds good in theory, but in reality it’s almost impossible. How can kids do research if we don’t have books, computers, or access to the internet?

The lack of employment, additionally, is a major problem in Los Pozos. Ideally, we want our youth to leave here to get a university education and then return to use their knowledge to improve the community. This is impossible in the current state of affairs. There is no employment here. People can’t come back.

This is complicated further by immigration. When they cannot find opportunities here, many people move to the United States. It is now common for my students to live with an extended family member because their parents have immigrated. They often lose motivation to study, distracted by family disintegration or the idea of someday leaving themselves.

What are other ways that education here affects the community as a whole?

I think that the community and the education system have improved together, at the same time. Now, our community is relatively developed. It is led by educated people who are able to make informed decisions. It has a directive, a public health organization, etc.

One initiative that demonstrates the effects of education particularly well is the local fish project. The fish project is a cooperative business in which fish are raised and sold in nearby pools for profit. It is only possible because of the high rates of literacy in our community. Workers must be able to read and write in order to record how many fish are in a pool, when they’ve been fed, how many have been taken out, etc. They must be at least somewhat educated in order to manage the administrative and financial aspects of the job.

How has your experience of popular education impacted you? Has your time as a popular teacher impacted your views on education and your current teaching methods?

I think I work the same way now as I did when I was a popular teacher. The only thing that’s changed slightly is how I talk about history. Before, we made our own history books so our students would know the reality of what happened, rather than the propaganda promoted by government-produced texts. When we discussed El Salvador’s independence, for example, we depicted it as violent and tumultuous, rather than glorious. Even though this was prohibited under the regime of that time, we wanted our students to know the truth. Now, we have slightly less freedom. Because we’re under the ministry, we don’t do as much analysis and criticism about happened in the past. We don’t have room in the official curriculum. I try to modify their program as best I can, but I can’t do so to the same extent as before.

What inspires you and has inspired you in your work?

I never wanted to be a professor. When I first started, I thought that I’d stop teaching and become a secretary in a few years. But somewhere in my work and my studies, this changed. I saw that I could help. I was motivated to see my students succeeding in the classroom. My faith has also inspired me. I’m currently involved in various church activities. I give talks at baptisms, I sing in the choir, and I help hold Mass in the community building for some of the older people in town who can’t make it to church. I feel that doing so keeps me going. It allows me to help in other ways, in addition to teaching.

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