Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Global Social Justice Project, in July 2011, undergraduate student Codie Kane interviewed Maria del Carmen Cruz Senovilla, a professor and researcher at Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeón Cañas (UCA), and the founder of 16 popular schools. In this interview, Maria del Carmen Cruz Senovilla discusses several initiatives she is working on to improve education in El Salvador, including curriculum materials for multi-grade teachers and a primarily online, distance learning program for students in rural communities seeking university degrees. Additionally, she discusses the Jesuit values of serving others and advancing equality, along with their role in the development of such programs.

Describe to me the state of education in rural areas of El Salvador. What are the positive aspects? What are the challenges?

Educational conditions in rural El Salvador are hard to imagine, particularly in smaller communities. Since the initiation of popular education during the civil war, there has been significant progress. Schools are now legally recognized by the Ministry of Education, and teachers are licensed. The school network is expanding and improving. In general, however, rural education faces serious issues. It has been more or less abandoned by the government. It is not monitored, and its needs go unaddressed. As a result, schools receive inadequate funding and support. They suffer from inferior material conditions, including poorly constructed classrooms and a lack of books and resources. Students, already vulnerable because of regional poverty, are left unassisted. They must walk long distances to reach school, often after having woken up early to help their parents in the fields. Such conditions are not conducive to learning. They lead to poor academic outcomes for students and stagnation in the educational system as a whole.

Some rural areas are better off than others. The communities that were most affected by the civil war, for example, have strong education systems. They are highly organized because they were forced to meet their own needs during the conflict. They created their own institutions and support networks, including schools. Their popular schools provided education to a generation of youth who would otherwise have grown up illiterate. They caused citizens to consider and value education. Today, their legacy motivates communities to work to maintain high-quality schools. Citizens remember their success and remain committed to supporting students. Ex-popular teachers know how to make do with minimal resources and use their experience to benefit current classrooms.

This is not the norm, however. In the 23 years that I’ve been in El Salvador, education has made little progress. Though the government has implemented some specific projects, including a free lunch program, various curricular developments, etc., it has witnessed few big changes. It remains poor in quality. It has allocated insufficient resources and involves no good, institutionalized teacher development process. This is especially true in small rural schools. They barely witness Ministry of Education support. Teachers must work with multiple grades at once without access to resources or materials.

I’m currently working on a project intended to change this. It entails implementing a program designed to improve educational quality in isolated areas that have few teachers and limited resources. The program consists of a curriculum and classroom design that facilitate simultaneous, multi-grade learning. It represents a way to assist integrated classrooms without having to address larger, contextual issues. Based on a similar program developed in Colombia for schools with one to two teachers and multiple grade levels, it has been successful in other rural communities in the past. I intend to first test it in a few schools in Chalatenango and then, if all goes well, expand throughout the country.

Tell me about other rural education projects you’re working on, particularly the distance learning program for education students.

The distance learning program for education students is an online teaching degree program that operates through the UCA. It is designed to expand access to higher education in Morazan and Chalatenango, rural departments characterized by their poverty and isolation. Its participants lack the financial and social resources necessary to travel to San Salvador, the location of the majority of colleges in the country. In the program, however, they do not have to go to the university; the university comes to them. They take virtual courses from UCA professors that are supplemented by weekly live classroom sessions. They experience the same degree of academic rigor and quality of instruction as students at the UCA campus, but they do not have to leave their region.

The program is also intended to have a trickle-down effect, creating new teachers who can use what they have learned to boost local academics and improve regional school systems. It prepares them to get jobs in their communities and equips them with the methodological techniques that are effective in such environments. Ultimately, it will ensure that students are provided with a high quality education and college preparation. It will enable them to go on to pursue professional degrees or become teachers themselves.

In a similar manner, the program is designed to encourage community organization. It fosters leadership skills and commitment to community issues among participants. It prepares them to engage in local affairs, making them instruments of regional development. Many graduates, in fact, find employment at NGOs involved in community projects rather than at schools.

What have been the impacts of the program at this point?

Unfortunately, its large-scale intended impacts have not yet been felt. The transformation process occurs slowly. Its impact will not truly be felt for several generations.

Nevertheless, the program has already had some important effects. Graduates have gotten jobs, for example. In Morazan, I have ex-students who work in both private and public schools. In Chalatenango, I know one man who is now the sole professor in a tiny village. He has one classroom with students in grades kindergarten through six.

One of the most satisfying results thus far involved a test administered by the Ministry of Education. It was given to assess our students’ skills versus those of students in traditional education programs. Our students’ scores were as good or better in all areas. This demonstrated that it is possible to use distance modalities to bring higher education to isolated populations. It convinced the government, in fact, to make the program a permanent, institutionalized component of national education.

In order for distance education to continue to be effective, however, some changes must occur. The Ministry of Education, first, must open more teaching positions in local schools. Our graduates need jobs if they are to be impactful. Second, the ministry must provide for certain basic conditions in these schools. It must ensure that they have adequate classrooms and materials.

What are the possibilities of replicating this program under similar circumstances in other areas of El Salvador or across the globe?

The program was developed with the idea that it would be widely applicable. It is very flexible. It requires only limited internet access and professors who are willing to travel to remote communities.

It was originally intended for implementation in six departments, in fact. It is currently limited to two because it lacks resources. With only a few permanent staff members, it doesn’t have sufficient manpower to extend to more sites.

It is important to note, however, that it demands substantial effort on the part of participating professors. They must devote extensive personal attention to their classes because of the nature of the population to which the program is targeted. They must, first, address the fact that participants enter their courses with serious deficits. Coming from low quality local schools, they often lack basic academic knowledge. They are intelligent and hardworking, but they have never been exposed to things other university students take for granted. Many don’t know how to structure an essay, for instance. They’ve never learned that it must be separated into paragraphs. In consequence, professors teach not only the course to which they are assigned, but also catch up their students on educational basics. They have to tailor their lessons so that they communicate content as well as normative school behaviors.

Adding to their workload further, professors often come to function as counselors or social workers for their students. They take personal time to help the members of their class, giving them advice or, on occasion, material support. After witnessing local conditions, many feel obligated to do so. I have experienced this directly. In a few instances, I have given my students money so that they were able to afford tuition fees.

How is this project informed by faith and by the Jesuit tradition of the UCA?

The distance learning program is concerned with forming new teachers. At the same time, however, its social implications are undeniable. It advances equality of opportunity in education and works toward ending poverty through supporting development. It is not just a college program, but also a social service. This is evident in the amount of sacrifice it demands of professors and program leaders. They give up their weekends in order to go to isolated villages to hold class, travelling in pickup trucks full of materials for hours on poor roads. They go regardless of weather conditions, getting soaked and muddy in the rainy season. In this sense, the program is intimately related to the UCA’s commitment to social justice, as informed by its Jesuit heritage. It is centered on the Jesuit mission of serving others.

On a material level, I think the program’s religious influence contributes to its success through lending it credibility. The populations with which we work already have a close relationship with the Catholic Church and Jesuit priests. They are more willing to trust and respect UCA professors because they come from a Catholic institution.