Education

Problems With Education in Honduras

Imagine this scenario: you are a young student living in a remote village in Honduras. You have a dream of getting a good education and improving your life. But to do that, you have to face a daily challenge that most people would find impossible. You have to wake up before the sun rises and walk down a steep mountain on a dusty, rutted road to get to the paved road, maybe 30 minutes to a few hours. You are dressed in your school uniform, which you had to pay for yourself. You also have to carry your books and supplies, which are not cheap either. You hope to find a bus that will take you to the school in the nearest larger township. You buy a bus ticket with the little money you have left, then ride for another half hour or longer to the school. You spend the whole day learning as much as you can, knowing that this is your only chance to escape poverty and hardship. At the end of the day, you reverse the trip— a trip that takes hours. You are tired, hungry and thirsty, but you have no choice. You have to do this every day if you want to get an education beyond the 6th grade. It just isn’t feasible for most poor rural Hondurans to get an education beyond the 6th grade. This is the reality that many children face in Honduras, one of the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin America.