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“Un pueblo educado es un pueblo libre”

A Lenca village in San Francisco de Opalaca

Education for the Lenca

The Lenca are the indigenous people of southwestern Honduras and northeastern El Salvador. Within a 100-km. radius of La Esperanza, the capital city of the lush, green, mountainous department (state/province) of Intibucá, Honduras, are about 50 Lenca villages. For reasons of poverty, age, geographic isolation, gender and/or ethnicity, most of the inhabitants are on the periphery of the public education system.

First grade students

The literacy rate of the region is somewhere between 30-50%, which is not surprising considering that the Lenca spend only an average of four years in school. As a consequence, the people suffer from a generalized feeling of inferiority and a lack of confidence in their ability to advocate for a democratic and civil society.

But things are changing. Their hunger for education gives them hope. They are learning to make positive changes in their lives and their communities.

El Maestro en Casa, a distance education program, stands with the Lenca in their determination to create a better, more prosperous life.