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These photos are what this ministry exists for – to help children. To utilize a Christian education as the foundation to provide change to a poverty stricken nation. The Bible says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” (Hosea 4:6) We have and would like to continue to enhance the lives of children in Honduras. The lives of the children in these photos have been changed beyond description. Thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Read/learn more regarding the education of children in Honduras (see article below).

Monday, September 18, 2006

According to a recent study by a Honduran business group, only 38.2% of Honduran teenagers attend secondary school. Obviously, many do not make it to graduation, thus the number of Honduran young people with a high school education is extremely low. The private sector in Honduras is recently showing signs of worry about such alarming stats as trends such as globalization, CAFTA and increased regional competition mean that workers need to posses a higher level of basic skills. In terms of education level and grasp of basic skills such as Spanish and math, Hondurans are woefully lacking.

In a related news story last week, UNESCO released an International Literacy Day report which revealed the depressing stat that some 1.3 million Hondurans are illiterate. That represents 18.5% of the population. However, the report does not address an additional and just as serious problem: the high percentage of people who are functionally illiterate (can read and write but just barely) or border on the functionally illiterate. I'd venture to guess that if you include all the above categories, you would wind up with the vast majority of Honduras' population of seven million inhabitants. (In other words, most of Honduras is illiterate, in one way or another.)

This is another reason why the private sector is worried about their inability to compete in a rapidly evolving global marketplace, where basic literacy is essential, not to mention higher level skills such as computer skills, second language, math, and science.

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Another population related news piece from last week. Honduras currently has 7.4 million inhabitants and, not surprisingly, one of the highest rates of population growth in Latin America: 2.6%. Unfortunately, economic growth does not keep pace, which means that there is high unemployment and extremely high underemployment. One interesting stat is that a whooping 40% of Honduras is under the age of 15, which means that families have fewer possibilities to provide adequate education and health care to children and limited possibilities to save. Another interesting statistic is that the number of women who have left the country illegally in search of employment is up 50%.

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1.3 million Hondurans can't read nor write

Thirty-nine years after UNESCO declared September 8th the International Literacy Day, Honduras has 1.3 million inhabitants that don't know how to read or write. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has announced the start of a massive literacy project that will be implemented from 2007 to 2015, with the goal of reducing the 18.5 percent illiteracy rate. The project will include a program for accelerated primary education in evening schools, as well as the creation of literacy teaching centers. As part of the project, Cuban teachers will be brought to Honduras to participate in the program "Yo si puedo" that already has had positive results in several municipalities.

For many it is difficult to imagine the education situation in Honduras. only about 60 percent of Honduran children finish the sixth grade, only about 35 percent reach the ninth grade, and less than 1 percent go on to a university. The Honduran government estimates that up to 175,000 children fail to receive schooling of any kind each year because their families lack sufficient financial resources or because parents rely on their children's labor to meet basic family needs. The Honduran Ministry of Labor estimates that every year an additional 97,000 children between 10 and 14 years of age drop out to work.

Honduras has one of the highest school drop out rates in Latin America. The problem is worst in rural areas, where some children only make it to third grade before they start working in the fields with their parents and abandon school completely. Children who are working in unregulated sectors, such as agriculture or domestic service, can be expected to work for 14 or 15 hours a day.

In Honduras, over 60 per cent of the population live on less than a dollar a day. By sending their child to work, parents may increase the family income by another dollar or so, and consequently, families perceive education to be irrelevant to their needs.

Perhaps what is most unbelievable about the education situation in Honduras is how little money is needed to send a child to school for a year. But what is certainly not difficult to imagine is that improving the educational level of Hondurans is critical to achieving economic and personal development. Major problems are – costs - such as matriculation fees, school uniforms, school supplies, and transportation. Children living in remote areas suffer the most, and must often move to another town to attend a middle school.

With your assistance we can help these children go to a Christian bilingual school and enrich there lives, learn about Jesus and become productive citizens as adults.