Background: As part of the Education and Global Social Justice Project, in July 2011 undergraduate student Codie Kane interviewed Vicenta Orellana Franco, a school teacher and community leader in Carasque, Nueva Trinidad, El Salvador. In this interview, Orellana Franco discusses the the leadership of the local parish in education, the importance of parents' investment in their children’s education, and the role of education in advancing community.
Tell me about your experience as a teacher and community member. How did you arrive at your present career?
I’m originally from Carasque. I became a teacher because of the need for education during the war. This area had been abandoned by the Ministry of Education, which left the children to grow up illiterate. I didn’t like the idea of teaching and I had no training, but I knew I had to help. I decided to start giving classes, effectively becoming a popular teacher.
When I first started, the other popular teachers and I were supported significantly by the Church. The Jesuit priests from the parish in Arcatao helped train us as we worked. They gave us materials and resources. You could say that they accompanied us. Other organizations and volunteers also assisted in the endeavor. People from Germany and Spain, in particular, came to lead teaching workshops.
We began attending training sessions every 15 days. We were taught by the priests from the Arcatao parish and outsiders with whom they collaborated. They gave us topics to discuss amongst ourselves, helped us plan our classes for the week, and shared teaching techniques. The methodology we learned was based on the theories of Paulo Freire. It centered on the notion that education should be participatory and integrative. We were taught, to use Freire’s metaphor, to see students as equals rather than empty banks that needed to be filled with knowledge.
Now, after reading Freire’s original work, I’m struck by how much we incorporated his ideas into the classroom. Our version of popular education was close to his vision of how it should theoretically function.
Eventually, we began to work to get our teaching degrees and official licenses. We gave classes during the week and studied on weekends, all the while negotiating with members of the Ministry of Education to get them to consider accepting the popular teachers into the state system. In 1999, we reached a settlement. They agreed to absorb us if we graduated from college. They began doing so in chunks, allowing everyone to enter by 2000.
Since then, there have been significant changes in education here. Though our school is now administered by the state, the other ex-popular teachers and I know that there are some things from the past that we can’t leave behind. We have to keep alive the spirit and manner with which we started. I’m especially referring to teaching methodology. Because we work with minimal resources, we can often rely more on our old methods than on the state-designed curriculum that assumes ideal classroom conditions. Even the Ministry of Education recognizes the validity of popular education principles. In 2009, for example, we had a state-sponsored training called Fundamentals of Curriculum. In it, we were taught that education should be participatory—something that we had been doing for years.
Describe to me the state of education in your community, Carasque. What are the positive aspects? What are the challenges?
The other teachers at the public school and I are a strong team. We are all from Carasque and know our students’ families. We have similar, community-based values. Nevertheless, we can’t do all that we want. There are many students here that need personal attention, but we don’t have the time to give it to them.
In terms of higher education, it’s important to note that more students from Carasque are going to high school and college than ever before. This doesn’t mean, however, that doing so is easy for them. Many find it hard to adapt. They are unprepared for the level of study that’s demanded of them. Only the most motivated and hardworking students succeed.
We’ve seen a real change in the quality of students here over the past few years. Those who graduated five years ago were more focused. Despite the fact that the closest high school was in Chalatenango, a town at least an hour away, many went on to get their high school diplomas. Some have already gotten university degrees. Now, however, students seem to be less motivated to study. They see going to class as a way of getting out of the house; they take it for granted. They put little effort into their homework. I think this is due to various factors. One is the media. Kids today have more access to technology and are thus more distracted than ever before. The little girls, for example, watch telenovelas instead of doing their homework. Another is the lack of academic reinforcement in the family. We try to talk to parents about the need to encourage their children, but I don’t think they understand what this means. “I tell them to do their homework,” they always say. But they should know that the students can’t do this alone. They need to demonstrate the importance of education. Unfortunately, most parents aren’t actually capable of playing this role. They grew up in an era in which education here was limited and undervalued. They may be able to read and write, but they don’t know science, math, or English.
Speaking of parents, another serious issue that we’re confronting in the education system is broken or disintegrated families. Many students now live with a single parent, grandparents, or other relatives. This is largely due to emigration. A significant part of the population has moved to the United States, leaving young children behind. This makes my job as a teacher difficult, because I have to deal with students who come from multiple realities in a single classroom. Those who have never experienced a nuclear family tend to lack important values or demonstrate behavioral problems. They may never have been taught how to interact with others in a positive manner.
You’ve brought up a variety of challenges that the education system here faces. What does it need to overcome these and progress further?
The school budget must change. Right now, it’s very limited. We don’t have enough money to both maintain the classrooms in good condition and support our students. We can’t ask families to compensate for this and to buy their own school supplies, for example, because they don’t have the economic resources. The government should plan budgets to match the conditions of the schools for which they are intended. If a community needs to be given more money because they have no other way of securing it, so be it.
We also need to work more with families. We currently have regular meetings with students’ parents. According to the Ministry of Education, we’re supposed to hold one every month. But because everyone here is so busy, this doesn’t always happen. Even when it does, the meetings don’t really help. The task of forming good children and students is much greater than what can be dealt with in semi-regular get-togethers. We have to figure out something else.
You mentioned before that the education system here is lacking in resources. Do you attempt to compensate for this? How?
In terms of infrastructure, we generally turn to the mayor’s office. For materials, we look to the parish. But other than that, we have to make do with the little that we have. Unlike the period immediately after the war, we get minimal assistance from outside institutions. In the past, everyone knew that El Salvador was coming out of a period of conflict. They knew we needed assistance, and help flooded in. Now, however, people assume that we’re getting everything we need from the government. It’s been 19 years since the war; we should have recovered. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
You mention the parish. In what other ways has the Church played a role in education here?
The Church plays an incredibly important role in our society. It helps us socially, economically, and spiritually. It has been the companion of every person and community in this area. Along with family and the school, it’s one of the primary institutions that cares for young people. It worries about, and gives special attention to, students.
The parish in Arcatao, in particular, has led a variety of initiatives that have directly or indirectly impacted education here. It funded a project that provided potable water to the town and currently supports a housing project in which it lends money to families who are in need of place to live. The parish also sponsors youth groups and manages the Desarollo Hermano Popular (DHP) scholarship program.
Father Miguel, in particular, one of the Jesuits from the parish, worries about our community. He has always denounced the injustices he sees, despite the fact that he puts himself in danger by doing so. He led protests and initiatives against the proposed mining projects, for example. He has sway with the [Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango], the police, and with all local institutions. He works with them to try to provide us with better living situations.
José Simeón Cañas Central American University is another Jesuit institution that has played a role in this region. They’ve conducted a number of research projects about the schools here that have exposed what’s really going on in terms of education, governmental support, etc. They’ve also participated in various development projects. Right now, they’re working on an initiative that will institutionalize some of the assistance that the parish gives us. Ultimately, it will make the aid we receive legal and official so that it’s no longer personal and can continue regardless of who works in the parish.
Tell me about your experience as a member of the Desarollo Hermano Popular scholarship committee.
I’ve been on the committee for a few years now. I act as a delegate for a few different sectors in the community. I represent the school, the Carasque community directorate, and the parents of scholarship recipients—my daughter is at the University of El Salvador with financial assistance from the program.
We hold meetings every two months in which we discuss current recipients, review applications, do administrative tasks, and follow up with alumni. Our general task is to find students who are committed to helping their communities and assist them in doing so by providing them with an education. Unfortunately, however, we aren’t able to help a lot. We have many applicants, almost all of whom have minimal financial resources, and low funds. We sometimes end up giving students amounts as low as $25.
Nevertheless, the program has had an impact. Since it began in 2002, it’s already helped a number of people graduate from university. Those who participate almost always hold true to their promise and return to their communities to help. They’re now working the mayor’s office, in schools, and in NGOs. One of the math teachers at the public school in Arcatao, for example, was a DHP student.
From your point of view, what is the link between education and community development? How has education affected your community?
During the war and in the period before, the community wasn’t nearly as developed as it is now. Everyone’s lives centered on the machete, subsistence farming. Even those leading the town weren’t educated. Now, many more people are. They’re prepared to participate in the labor market, rather than work exclusively in agriculture. They make money that is used to fund projects that help the community move forward.
Do you see education, then, as a form of community empowerment?
In a way, yes. In addition to the effects that I mentioned previously, improved education has brought a kind of liberation. When the majority of community members were uneducated and humble, they were more easily manipulated by politicians. Now, however, people can defend themselves. They can demand their full rights as citizens. They can also better defend themselves against the potential negative influence of the media. When they’re able to critically evaluate what they see and hear, they can use the media for productive ends.
What’s the future of education here? Do you have a vision of an ideal future?
One of the primary problems with education in El Salvador is that it is so linked to politics. Our education system changes with every new government that comes into power. Certain types of education or educational projects are considered to be associated with certain ideologies. Previously, when the right was in power, the government designed its education system to reduce illiteracy for the sake of statistics. They didn’t want to form truly knowledgeable citizens because they didn’t want to deal with a conscious population. Now, the left is governing, and they’re trying to change and improve the system. But my question is: if and when a new government comes into power, are they going to totally reverse what this government has done? Are they going to continue to shape education to their particular ideology? Education should be neutral. I hope in the future that it becomes so.