Background paper prepared for the

Education for All Global Monitoring Report

Gender and Education for All: The Leap t

Educational progress and proGuatemala, Honduras and

Sergio Martinic 2003

This paper was commissioned by the Education for All Global Monitorinformation to assist in drafting the 2003/4 report. It has not been editeand opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and shouEFA Global Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers can be reference: “Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring RepEquality”. For further information, please contact efareport@unesco.or

2004/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/46

2003/4

o Equality

blems in Mexico

ing Report as background d by the team. The views ld not be attributed to the cited with the following ort 2003/4, The Leap to g

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EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS IN GUATEMALA, HONDURAS AND MEXICO

Sergio Martinic (November 2003)1

Introduction The three countries analysed illustrate the diversity and contrasts that characterize Latin America as a whole. Guatemala and Honduras are two of the countries with the worst problems of access, efficiency and quality of educational results. By contrast, Mexico has made great strides forward in expanding its system and investing in the sector. In spite of this, there are sharp contrasts within the country in terms of the efficiency of schools and educational quality. In all three countries the main problems of coverage are found in pre-school education; in primary education in rural areas; in secondary education and, more particularly, in higher education. In Honduras, for example, only 31% of children attend pre-school. The rates are again low in secondary education. In 1998, it was estimated that 35% of the school-age population was studying in 7th to 12th grade2. This means that, for a large proportion of the population, sixth grade is the terminal grade. According to 1998 data, less than 60% of the children entering primary school go on to 5th grade3. Guatemala is still the country with the lowest educational coverage in Central America. At present only eight out of every ten children attend primary school; the quality of education is low and the boys and girls are poor. Rural and indigenous children are the most excluded. Drop-out rates have increased at all levels, especially in the basic and diversified cycles. Out of every ten boys and girls entering primary school, fewer than three make it as far as 6th grade (CIEN-PREAL, 2002:5). The problem is more serious in rural and indigenous areas. Twenty-one Mayan languages are spoken in Guatemala in addition to Spanish, which makes it more complex and difficult not only to improve access to schooling but also to achieve quality goals in education. In Mexico, total enrolment increased from 11.5 million students in 1970 to more than 30 million in 2001. During the same period, the number of years of primary schooling rose from 3.7 to 7.8 for men and from 3.1 to 7.3 for women4. Between 1990 and 2000, enrolment in pre-school education grew by 25.2%, meaning that 70% of four to five- 1 Anthropologist and Sociology Phd. Professor at the P. Catholic University of Chile. Researcher at the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CIDE). 2 Policy analysis unit (UDAPE), 1997. Honduras 2005: Construyendo nuestro progreso. Propuesta. Tegucigalpa. 3 Central American committee for education reform [Comisión Centro Americana para la Reforma Educativa]: Mañana es muy tarde, PREAL, 2002: 9 4 Minstry of Public Education, National Education Plan 2001-2006. Mexico, 2001:58

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year-olds attended school in 20005. Despite these achievements, there are problems of access to intermediate and higher education, coupled with major inequalities in terms of efficiency and quality between states, between urban and rural areas and between rural areas and the regions where indigenous peoples live. Major educational reforms are being carried out to tackle the problems identified in the three countries. The key elements of change promoted in these reforms are: decentralization of school management by granting more autonomy to states (the case of Mexico) and to regional entities, such as departments and schools themselves (the case of Guatemala and Honduras); curricular changes to integrate intercultural and gender-related content (Mexico, Guatemala); development of participatory forms of school management by transferring authority and resources for administering schools to community associations (the case of Guatemala and Honduras); greater investment in compensatory programmes targeted at the most neglected areas (the case of Mexico); training and capacity building for teachers; and provision and reorganisation of formal and informal education for young people and adults (in all three countries). The educational reforms are taking place in specific social and political contexts. The countries differ in terms of the level of development and the characteristics of their educational systems. The human development index of Guatemala and Honduras is amongst the lowest in Latin America. In Mexico, the economically active population has an intermediate educational level and an intermediate dropout rate among 15 to 19-year-olds. By contrast, the economically active population of Guatemala and Honduras has a low enrolment ratio and a high dropout rate among 15 to 19-year-olds. The official age of entry into the first grade of basic education is seven in Honduras and Guatemala and six in Mexico. The primary cycle lasts for six years in all three countries. The civil war in Guatemala ceased only recently. A peace agreement was secured in 1996, bringing the prolonged armed conflict to an end. In this agreement the Government made clear commitments on education, such as increasing education spending; attaining at least an average of three years of schooling for 7 to 12-year-olds; improving the efficiency of the system and increasing literacy. The achievements obtained so far have been poor and all sectors are calling for the current educational policies to be reoriented (CIEN-PREAL, 2002). During the 1990s, Guatemala was one of the countries spending the smallest percentage of its national income on education (UNDP, 1998: 2). In Honduras, a number of measures have been carried out in the past ten years to improve the national educational system. They include the devolution decree; the creation of Basic Education; the development of a Ten-Year Plan; the Community Education Project and the promulgation of the Act on Non Formal Alternative Education (FONAC; 1999:4). The Programme for Improving the Quality of Basic Education has been in application since 1996; experiments have been promoted for community managed schools; and textbooks and educational aids and grants for in-service teacher training have been allocated. The National Convergence Forum (FONAC), created in 1999, drew up a proposal for education reform that received the support of all sectors and interest groups 5 Minstry of Public Education, National Education Plan 2001-2006. Mexico, 2001

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in Honduras. This resulted in a General Education Act, which is currently being debated in parliament. In Mexico, the General Education Act (LGE) was promulgated in 1993, stipulating, among other things, nine years of compulsory schooling; curricular reform in primary education; the transfer of educational departments to the state governments and the development of compensatory and bilingual programmes6. In July 2000, a special process of political change began with the election of the current President, Vicente Fox. President Fox set up a transition team for the education sector which, following consultations and discussions with the leading actors in the education field, drew up a National Education Plan. The plan contains three strategic objectives: to improve educational equity; to secure quality education for all and to promote educational federalism and social participation. This plan guides the policies currently in application (2001-2006). The Governments of all three countries have embarked on policies to reform their educational systems. While this has led primarily to improvements in educational coverage and efficiency of the system, these policies have failed to resolve the problem of access to or quality of education for the poorest and most excluded sectors of the population. This document analyses the progress of these three countries in achieving the Education for All goals. It focuses special attention on the more substantive changes and identifies the obstacles and critical areas that require special policies and efforts in order to meet the goals set for 2005 and 2015.

1. Early childhood protection and education In Latin America, access to education for children under the age of six follows a pattern similar to that of the developed countries. Once almost universal primary education is achieved, coverage of the pre-school level starts to be extended (UNESCO, 2002:38). The countries under study have formal and informal systems of early childhood education but provision is concentrated mainly in urban areas, where it is primarily medium to high income sectors that have access. During the 1990s, there were major advances in living conditions and in access to initial or pre-school education. Many of these achievements were due to governments gaining awareness of the need to comply with international agreements on children’s rights (ECLAC, UNICEF, SECIB, 2001). In Latin America, the enrolment of 2 to 5 year-old children in pre-school education quadrupled between 1975 and 1995. During the same period, teachers in nursery schools, kindergartens and infant schools, attached to primary schools, increased sixfold throughout the region. The gross enrolment ratio grew from 35.4% in 1985 to 51.1% in 6 These programmes have been administered by the National Council for Educational Development (CONAFE) and the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) of the federal government.

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1995 (UNESCO, 2001:32). However, these rates fall substantially in pre-school education for the 0 to 5-year age group. In 1986, formal and informal coverage of pre-school education was 15% (Myers, R., 1993:33) and by 1997 it had risen to 26.4% of the 0 to 4-year age group (UNESCO, 2001:32). In spite of this steady increase, coverage is still low compared with other educational levels7. There are stark contrasts in children’s educational provision within individual countries. Provision expanded mainly in urban areas and in the medium and high-income sector (see Table 1 attached). In urban areas, the enrolment of 5-year-olds reached 59%, eighty-six percent of whom were from the richest quintile of the population (ECLAC, UNICEF, SECIB, 2001). Educational policies emphasize coverage and define the level as preparation for primary school. To achieve this, educational investment and programmes are targeted mainly at children in the 4 to 6 age group, as illustrated in the following table regarding the countries under analysis8.

Table 1. Gross enrolment ratio in childhood development programmes

1990 1996 2000 Country Age Total Total M W Total M W

Guatemala 5 – 6 26 35 35 34 46 46 46 Honduras 4 – 6 13 14 13 14 21 21 22 Mexico 4 – 5 64 73 72 74 76 75 77

Source: UNESCO's World Education Indicators. UNESCO Institute of Statistics In Mexico and Guatemala, we have seen a substantial increase in coverage in the past ten years. This is due primarily to the efforts made by the state education system. In fact, in both countries the importance of the private sector has decreased in close step with the expansion of state provision (see Table 2 attached). Honduras has comparatively more of an education lag, with only 21% of the population in this age group achieving access to early childhood education. It is interesting to note that in recent years female enrolment has slightly exceeded that of men in all three countries. In Mexico, initial education caters for children aged from 45 days up to 5 years and 11 months. There are two types of initial education programme. The first is the Child Development Centre programme (CENID), which operates in urban areas and schools. The other is the Programme for the Development of Initial Education (PRODEI), designed to enhance parents’ knowledge, attitudes and practices of childrearing as a way

7 It is important to note a series of problems with the statistics for pre-primary level. In general the statistics include formal government-associated programmes. Many of the non-conventional programmes promoted by non-governmental organizations and the private sector are not included in national statistics (Myers, R., 1993: 37); UNESCO, 2002). 8 On this subject see: UNESCO, Assessment of the Education for All Programme in the Year 2000. Subregional report: Latin America. www.efa.unesco.cl

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of positively affecting the development of 0 to 4-year-olds in order to improve their future school performance9. Both programmes include the health, nutrition and stimulation aspects of psychosocial development. In the year 2000-2001 there were a total of 652,000 boys and girls in initial education, corresponding to a 12% increase in the number of children in initial education in the year 1990-1991 (SEP [Ministry of Public Education], 2002:12). There are three grades of pre-school education (4 to 6 years) and the 1993 General Education Act made it a State’s obligation for all boys and girls entering primary education to have spent at least one year in pre-school (SEP, 1999:22). During the past decade a major effort has been made to ensure that indigenous children and children from small rural communities have access to pre-school education. In 2000-2001, such children represented 12.2% of enrolment (SEP, 2002:13). At the end of the 1990s, around 80% of five-year olds were receiving pre-school education under one of the three types of pre-school scheme (general, indigenous or community). In Guatemala in the 1990s there was steady growth in pre-school education. Between 1992 and 1998 the gross enrolment ratio rose from 31.0% to 37.4%. This was due in large part to expansion policies, including the programme for the complete care of minors (PAIN). There are two educational options: the ordinary monolingual programme and the bilingual programme in four Mayan languages (k’iche, kaqchikel, mam and qéqchi). Note the level of coverage achieved during the period by bilingual schemes and community pre-school education centres, with 28.51% and 22.23% of pre-school enrolment respectively (UNESCO, 2001:232). In addition, CENACEP, a programme of community centres for accelerated pre-school education of boys and girls over the age of six, has carried out important work since 1994 by providing intensive support during the two months prior to children entering first grade (UNDP, 1998:31). This growth has favoured the largest departments, such as City of Guatemala, Sololá, Escuintla and Petén, which represent more than 43% of the population in early childhood education, demonstrating the high level of centralization and internal inequality in Guatemala’s pre-primary education provision (UNDP, 1998; PREAL-CIEN, 2002). In Honduras, the most important event in the past decade was the development of the 1992 National Action Plan under the Education for All programme. Its objectives include improving pre-school educational services and increasing the enrolment of children up to the age of seven by at least 50%10. These policies, and the programmes they include, have led to a major increase in the gross enrolment ratio during the period, with the number of boys and girls in early childhood education rising by 21.8% between 1990 and 1999. This was the most important progress that occurred in the Honduras education system in the 1990s (PREAL-FEREMA, 2002).

9 This programme operates in indigenous, rural and marginalized urban communities of the ten socio-economically most disadvantaged states of the Mexican Republic. In 1996 it was extended to a further 13 states as part of the Integrated Programme to reduce Education Lag (PIARE). 10 Honduras Ministry of Education, National Education Plan, 1992.

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This increase was primarily the result of informal education programmes conducted using community instructors in rural areas. In 1999, this scheme catered for 54% of children enrolled in pre-school education (UNESCO, 2001:247). These programmes are shorter in duration than formal programmes, lasting two to ten months instead of three years, as in formal pre-school education, which affects their quality (PREAL-FEREMA, 2002:9) Educational provision increased significantly during the period owing to the government efforts in poor urban areas and in rural areas. In Mexico in 1998, nine out of every ten children entering primary school had participated in some type of early childhood education programme (see Table 3 attached). Mexico’s situation contrasts strongly with that of Guatemala and Honduras, where early childhood education provision is not even 30%. Government policies have underlined the importance of initial and pre-school education for children’s success in primary education. A number of studies have clearly demonstrated this relationship. Moreover, pre-school education has also been shown to be important in promoting the labour market integration of women in poor areas and in guaranteeing basic health care and nutrition for boys and girls from such families. However, focusing on the above relegates the actual child development objectives that are achieved by means of such early education experiences to a secondary position. These experiences provide the means and opportunities for enhancing primary socialization; promoting language development and stimulating the socio-affective development of children, amongst other things. The conceptual aspects of the issue and the approach to it are still subjects of open debate in the region. The countries under study will find it hard to meet the education goals set by the Education for All Forum. The principal obstacles are the shortage of resources and low level of investment in the sector. There is also a lack of training and qualified personnel to cater for social and cultural diversity at pre-primary level. Non-conventional strategies that include the family and the community as key players are advocated in order to extend levels of coverage.

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2. Universal Primary Education

The majority of Latin American countries made substantive progress in access to primary education. As the following table shows, during the 1990s the gross enrolment ratio rose by more than 20 points and the female participation rate increased by three points. Thanks to efforts by Latin American governments, universal access to the early years of basic education and parity between men and women have virtually become a reality at this level (GPI = 0.98) (UNESCO, 2002:71).

Table 2 Gross primary enrolment rate by country and gender 1990-2001

Year Women Men Total GPI* Total Latin America (a)

1990 103.10 105.4 99.2 0.98

1999-2000 124.50 127.50 126.00 0.98Mexico 1990(b) 112.00 115.00 111.40 (c) 0.97 2000/2001 112.71 113.63 113.18 0.98Guatemala 1990(b) 76.00 86.00 82.50 (d) 0.88 2000/2001 97.66 106.47 102.16 0.91Honduras 1990(b) 110.00 105.00 94.50 (c) 1.04 2000/2001 107.11 104.98 106.03 1.02Sources: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (a) Total Latin America UNESCO, 2002:69; (b) PREAL, 2001:40; (c) UNESCO/ OREALC, 2001 and (d) UNESCO/OREALC, 2001 (data for 1992) * GPI = Gender parity index If we analyse the gross admission rate, we see disparities between the three countries, with the rate exceeding 100%. This indicates that more children are older than the official age for the class when they enter primary school11. However, note that in Guatemala and Mexico the trend was for the percentage of entrants older than the official age to decline in 2000-2001 (see Table 4 attached). The gaps between the countries are more obvious when we look at the net admission rate, as can be seen in the following table12.

Table 3 Net Admission Rate by country and sex

11 The gross admission rate (GAR) measures the total number of children entering primary school in any given year – regardless of age – expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official admission age to primary education (UNESCO, 2002f:50). 12 The net admission rate (NAR) measures the number of new entrants into primary education of official admission age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official admission age.

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Net Admission Rate Country Year Total Men Women Parity

Guatemala 2000/2001 60.66 62.03 59.22 0.95 Honduras 2000/2001 48.54 48.53 48.55 1.00 Mexico 2000/2001 84.25* 82.62* 85.95* 1.04 Latin America 1999/2000 67.90 67.40 68.40 1.01 World 1999/2000 55.60 56.80 54.40 0.96 Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics *UNESCO Institute for Statistics’ estimate

As the table shows, Honduras has the lowest net admission rate, although there are no large differences between men and women. The rate for the 2000-2001 period was 48.54, around 40 percentage points lower than the net enrolment ratio for the same period (87.62). This indicates how important late entry into education (children older than the official age) and high repetition rates are in Honduras. These factors are tending to diminish in the other two countries, where the net enrolment rates are 77.2% (Guatemala) and 96.5% (Mexico)13. In Guatemala, the increase in primary school enrolment is virtually double the increase in the population during the same period. There has therefore been considerable progress in the expansion of educational provision (UNESCO/OREALC, 2001: 233). The net primary enrolment ratio increased from 72% to 84% during the 1991-2000 period. However, the net enrolment ratio at basic intermediate level and diversified intermediate level is not even one quarter of the population of the school age at this level (24% and 15% respectively in 2000) (PREAL-CIEN, 2002:8). However, for primary education to be considered universal, one fifth of children aged 7 to 12 years must be integrated into the system. When the net ratio is analysed in terms of gender and location, we see that 48% of girls aged 7 to 12 from rural areas are not enrolled in primary school, a rate that decreases to 37% for men. Women, in general, have to help with household tasks and productive work, and in the city they have to help to take care of siblings while their mother is at work. Added to the above are the lack of transport and the remoteness of educational services, which inclines parents to prevent their daughters from attending primary school for safety reasons (ECLAC, 2002). During the past 10 years, the attendance of indigenous children has increased by 10%. In 1989, only six out of every ten indigenous children attended primary school, but by 2000 the number had risen to seven out of every ten children (PREAL-CIEN, 2002:9). In Guatemala, 50% of the population is indigenous and they have inadequate access to bilingual intercultural education. In 1999, only 22% of Mayan-speaking children between the ages of 7 and 12 received a bilingual intercultural education. The remainder attended schools where the classes are taught in Spanish, with all the attendant problems in terms of efficiency and educational performance. 13 The data relate to 1998 in the case of Guatemala and to 1997 in the case of Mexico. Source: Subregional Statistics UNESCO/OREALC.

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The expansion of the system during the past 10 years has been the result of implementing policies to increase coverage in rural areas. The principal strategy for achieving this was to introduce self-managed schools relying in great measure on community involvement (PRONADE)14. In September 2000, the programme catered for 9% of primary school children and 17% of pre-primary school children. In spite of these efforts, Guatemala’s school coverage indicators at all levels continue to be the lowest in Latin America. In Honduras there have been no great changes in primary education coverage. The enrolment of pupils of primary school age increased by only 2% in 10 years, rising to an 85.7% enrolment ratio in 1999 (PREAL-FEREMA, 2002:9). The great problem in the education system is access to secondary school. According to data from the household survey, only 28.7% of 14 to 19-year-olds attend secondary school (PREAL-FEREMA, 2002:10). There are no significant gender gaps, indicating a good parity rate between men and women in both access and educational results. The largest gaps relate to location and entry level. One quarter of children from rural areas do not have access to primary level. At secondary level, the number of boys and girls in urban areas with access to secondary education is almost double that of rural children. Moreover, most of the poorest 20% have an average of no more than three years of schooling (PREAL-FEREMA, 2002:13 and 14). The Honduran Community Education Programme (PROHECO) was introduced in 1999 in order to improve access to and the efficiency of the educational system. This programme is modelled on programmes in El Salvador (EDUCA) and Guatemala (PRONADE), which include the community in the management of its schools. Up to now the programme has benefited remote communities and caters for more than 23,000 pupils in 500 schools15. There is a wide-ranging debate on whether it should continue, as the programme is perceived as a strategy for privatising education. The National Convergence Forum, created in 1999, drew up a proposal for educational reform that received the support of all sectors and interest groups in Honduras16. This has led to commitments being secured from the National Congress of the Republic that this proposal will lead to the approval of a new General Education Act and that education will be made a priority state policy not related to governmental terms of office17. In Mexico, a major effort has been made to increase primary education coverage. During the ten-year period, the net enrolment ratio of 6 to 14-year-olds rose from 86.5% in 1990 to 92.4% in 2000 (SEP, 2002:14). This achievement was primarily due to the decentralization policies instigated in 1992 and to the General Education Act enacted in

14 National programme for the self-management of educational development [Programa Nacional de Autogestión para el Desarrollo Educativo]. This programme promotes the creation of Education Committees (COEDUCAS) authorized to run primary schools and monitor their activities. The Committees are made up of parents and community members; they receive support and training from specialized institutions; they hire teachers and administer the school’s resources. 15 For further information, see: www.pgi.me.gov.ar/oea/hon_txt_0501.htm (04062003) [in Spanish]. 16 FONAC/Education Committee. 1999: Propuesta para la Transformación del Sistema Educativo Nacional. Tegucigalpa, discussion paper, December 1999. 17 See EFA Honduras report.

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1993, which stipulated nine years of compulsory education; the development and strengthening of bilingual multicultural education18 and the allocation of funding to compensatory programmes targeted at Mexico’s four poorest states, which are home to more than 40% of the indigenous population (Winkler, D., 2002: 214)19. Notable among these is the Programme to reduce Educational Lag (PARE I and II), which includes measures to improve infrastructure and provide teacher training material and incentives for teachers, as well as educational aids and new infrastructure. This programme catered for 419,000 families in 1999 (UNESCO, 2001:264). In addition, an interesting experiment has been carried out in rural communities to train young people to teach in isolated communities. In spite of this progress, there are still major inequalities in Mexico’s interior. “The Federal District of Mexico has close to an average of ten years of schooling and Nuevo León has close to nine, not far behind the developed countries. However, Chiapas, the department that ranked bottom of the schooling list in 2000, has an average even lower than the average 30 years ago of the department now topping the ranking, the Federal District: 5.35 years as opposed to 5.71. Inequality continued to be greater in Chiapas in 2000 than it was in the Federal District in 1970: 0.48 as opposed to 0.38.”20

Achieving 100% access to primary school is still a fairly distant goal, as the net enrolment ratio indicates, particularly in the case of Honduras and Guatemala.

3. Gender equality

Government efforts to increase access to primary education have favoured women and gender parity. In Mexico and Honduras there is greater gender parity in access to primary education than there is in Guatemala. In Honduras, there are slightly more women than men, with the gender parity rate rising from 0.91 to 1.02 in the past 10 years. In Guatemala, by contrast, men have greater access to primary education than women, with around 9 percentage points more than women during the 2000-2001 period (see Table 4 attached). These gaps increase in line with the grade, with the widest gender gap in sixth grade (see Table 6 attached). The disparities between men and women are less acute if we consider the net enrolment ratio. In Latin America, there are disparities between countries and in several countries men receive more schooling. This is because a greater proportion of women are older than the official age for the class. Nevertheless, the net ratio is slightly in favour of

18 In Mexico there are 62 recognized ethnic groups; 49 indigenous languages and 72 dialectal variants (UNESCO, 2001:258) 19 The four states are: Hidalgo; Guerrero; Oaxaca and Chiapas, where more than 80% of the population of each of these states is living in poverty (Muñoz Izquierdo, C. et al, 2002:505). 20 Felipe Martinez Rizo “Nueva Visita al País de la Desigualdad. La Distribución de la Escolaridad en México, 1970-2000”. In: Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa September-December 2002, vol. 7, edition 16, pp. 415-443. www.comie.org.mx/revista/Pdfs/Carpeta16/16investTem1.pdf 02062003

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women, who tend to enter primary school at the correct age (see Table 7 and Table 8 attached) The greatest gender inequalities start when we analyse the female share of enrolment in intermediate and higher education, especially when these data are related with income, geographical region and ethnic group. No major progress has been made to bridge these gaps in the past ten years. In fact, the gross and net enrolment ratio in secondary education favour men in Guatemala and women in Mexico, exceeding the net enrolment ratio at this level by five percentage points in 2001. In Honduras, only one third of the population has access to secondary education21. Fifty point three percentage of women aged between 13 and 19 years from the poorest quintile attend secondary school. By contrast, in the richest quintile of the population women’s participation rises to 70.3% of women of the same age. In the case of Mexico the trend is similar but there are smaller differences between men and women in the poorest and richest quintiles (Messina, 2001: 42). In Guatemala, 79.2% of rural women aged 15 to 19 have completed the first year of basic education, compared with 89.1% of urban women. Fifteen percent of rural women completed ninth grade, compared with 38.3% of urban women. Twenty percent of poor women completed fifth grade of primary school, compared with 34% of poor men. Eighty-eight percent of women and 96.1 % of men from the highest or richest quintile completed fifth grade22. Indigenous women are particularly affected by gender inequality. In Guatemala, girls complete 0.9 years of schooling and indigenous boys complete 1.8 years. In the 20-24 age group, seven out of every ten women have no schooling at all (Messina, G., 2001:16). This is explained by the important role women play in most indigenous cultures in maintaining the culture and domestic economy. This role keeps women out of school. Moreover, school itself creates a schism, because it has a curriculum and an organization of time and teaching that have little relevance to such cultural contexts. These inequalities change when we consider the indicators of efficiency and quality of education systems. One of the key indicators of efficiency is the repetition rate. The repetition rate is now higher for men in virtually all Latin American countries. This is borne out by Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, where the male repetition rate is two or more percentage points higher than the female rate (data for the 1998-2001 period). The dropout rate in urban areas differs from that in rural areas. In cities, men have higher dropout rates, whilst in rural areas, by contrast, the rate is the same for both sexes or higher for women, as in the case of Guatemala.

Table 4 School drop-out rate among young people of 15 to 19 years of age

21 The gross ratio at secondary level rose from 27.6% in 1990 to 33.3% in 1999 (FEREMA-PREAL, 2002: 38). 22 Source: Deon Filmer. “Educational Attainment and Enrolment Profiles. A Resource Book based on an Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data”. The World Bank, Development Research Group. 2000.

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Nationwide Urban areas Rural areas Country Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women

Honduras (a) 21 22 20 11 12 9 31 31 31Guatemala (b) 32 30 34 16 15 17 46 42 50Mexico (c) 7 8 6 4 4 3 12 12 12Source ECLAC, 2002 (a) 1999, (b) 1998, (c) 2000 In cities, men are forced to seek work at an early age. They also tend to repeat and to need more years of schooling before they exit primary education, explaining their higher dropout rate (Messina, G., 2001:179). In rural areas, by contrast, domestic duties and low parental expectations of girls remaining in education are factors in the high female dropout rates23. This finding is borne out when we analyse the survival rate, indicating school dropout rates prior to fifth grade. In Mexico, according to data for the 1998-2001 period, women have a higher survival rate (89.5% in 2000). By contrast, in Guatemala, men have a higher rate (79% survival rate as far as fifth grade) (see Table 8 attached). There are no major gender gaps in pre-primary education. Both men and women have poor access to this level due to low coverage in the region generally. The net enrolment ratio in pre-primary education programmes varies little between men and women in Guatemala and Honduras. In Mexico, by contrast, there is a high ratio and a two percentage-point gap in favour of women. There has been a notable increase due to pre-primary education programmes in Mexico, attaining a gross enrolment ratio of 82.4% during the 2000-2001 period. Gender-based inequality is accentuated at secondary school level, since a larger number of girls drop out of school before completing their studies, and they do so at an earlier stage than boys, particularly in rural or impoverished areas. Early marriage, teenage pregnancy and the need to assist the family or to learn practical skills for employment are some of the reasons why girls drop out of school. The progress achieved in parity indices may lead governments to believe that the gender equity goals have already been achieved. However, there are still inequalities when we consider other educational levels and data on the efficiency of the system, even more so when we analyse the gender inequalities reproduced through teaching practices in schools. A number of gender-based studies have demonstrated that stereotypes are transmitted through school textbooks, the curriculum, disciplinary and teaching practices, are in detriment of women (Messina, G, 2001; Cortina, R. and Stromquist, N., 2001).

23 See: "Examen y Evaluación de la Aplicación de la Plataforma de Acción de Beijing: Informe del Secretario General" (E/CN.6/2000/PC/2). http://www.un.org/spanish/conferences/Beijing/fs2.htm

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These studies clearly show that the gender dimension is present not only in access to education and in curricular content, but also in school structures, rules and operational procedures. Problems such as teenage pregnancy tend to be resolved by the girl leaving or being expelled from her educational institution, which constitutes serious and profound discrimination (Messina, G, 2001:19). Physical and recreational areas are not designed with women in mind and teachers lack training to make them aware of the gender issue and to help them improve their classroom practices (T. Tovar, 1997). Greater knowledge and awareness of inequalities between men and women has led to a more prominent inclusion of the gender perspective at the policy design phase. For instance, the Mexican Government’s 2001-2006 National Education Plan explicitly recognizes the importance of the problem. It defines guidelines for guaranteeing women’s access to all levels of education and calls into question educational practices that reproduce gender-based inequalities and hierarchies. An interesting initiative is CONAFE’s Red de Acciones Educativas a Favor de las Mujeres, a network of educational measures to assist women, set up in 1997, which promotes teacher training in all states and the implementation of activities to foster the incorporation of the gender perspective into education. In the Federal District of Mexico another programme is in application, called Una Segunda Oportunidad (a second opportunity), which provides financial support to pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers to enable them to remain at school. Guatemala has introduced the Equal Opportunities Plan for Guatemalan Women and the 2000-2004 Government Social Policy Plan, which identify education as a priority area for achieving social and gender equity. At the same time, in the “Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, the Government recognizes the special vulnerability and defencelessness of indigenous women, as a result of dual discrimination against them as both women and indigenous people, further compounded by a social situation of acute poverty and exploitation24. Since 1998, Guatemala has been carrying out the Girls’ Programme to promote better opportunities for women’s access to and continuance in primary education, whilst at the same time providing them with a quality education that places value on the girls’ gender, as well as on their culture, when they come from one of the country’s ethnic groups (Stromquist, N. et al, 2001:304)25. In summary, the policies implemented in the three countries have helped to break down the social, economic and cultural barriers preventing girls from entering primary school and continuing in the educational system. However, this is not enough. Efforts are also needed to alter the school culture and to carry out measures such as: (a) introducing the gender perspective as a cross-curricular theme; (b) encouraging non-sexist illustrations in school textbooks; (c) promoting the contribution of women to the history of Latin America; (d) training public officials in the gender perspective; (f) increasing the use of educational indicators with a gender perspective (Jáuregui, M.L., 2001: 254).

24 Accord on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, part II, section B, paragraph 1. 25 For further details, see http://www.mineduc.gob.gt/proyectos/prognina

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4. Illiteracy and learning needs of young people and adults Illiteracy is the main expression of educational vulnerability in the region (Rivero, J. 2000). Latin America has made great efforts to resolve the problem and, between 1980 and 1990, it succeeded in reducing illiteracy by more than 10 percentage points. In 2000, the illiteracy rate was 11.1% throughout the region and, if the trend continues, the rate by the year 2005 is estimated to be 9.5% (see Table 10 attached). According to projections up to the year 2015, based on current data, Mexico will achieve 90% literacy, and Honduras and Guatemala will range between 70% and 90% (UNESCO, 2002:66). Illiteracy is concentrated in rural areas and, contrary to the world trend, primarily affects women (UNESCO 2002). The problem is made more complex by the fact that there is a large proportion of indigenous people in all three countries, making it necessary to seek alternatives and strategies for bilingual methodologies. For example, 70% of women in the departments of Quiché and Alto Verapaz in Guatemala are illiterate, and 61% of illiterate Guatemalans are indigenous (UNDP, 1998:38)26. The problem is even greater if we analyse illiteracy in terms of the communication skills and abilities people need to cope with various aspects of everyday life. As studies of “functional illiteracy” have shown, most of those with seven years of schooling or less have not yet learned the basic communication skills to enable them to participate in working and social life27. All three countries have policies to incorporate people who have undergone literacy programmes into adult education programmes in order to upgrade their education and provide them with vocational training. This has altered the traditional policy of the 1980s, which viewed these as major – but exceptional and short term - social movements (UNESCO 2001b). In Guatemala, for instance, the National Literacy Committee (CONALFA) has replaced the former literacy campaigns with programmes that include post-literacy and training with an intercultural and bilingual dimension. In Honduras, where literacy rates are still 20%, a new Literacy and Basic Education Programme for Young People and Adults of Honduras (PRALEBAH) has been developed, together with a programme of Basic Education targeted especially at young people and adults with an educational lag who are excluded from the traditional school system (EDUCATODOS)28. In Mexico, teaching of basic literacy has been integrated within a broader adult education perspective. Programmes currently being implemented include literacy programmes in Spanish and indigenous languages, to provide young people and adults with basic skills in mathematics, reading and writing in their own languages. At the same time, upgrading programmes are being implemented, such as primary and secondary education for adults

26 UNDP Guatemala: Los Contrastes del Desarrollo Humano. Guatemala, United Nations, 1998. 27 UNESCO, Informe Final de Evaluación de Promedlac. Santiago, UNESCO/OREALC, 2001b. cited by G. Messina, 2001: 23 28 See www.educatodos.hn.

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and young people by means of formal and distance education. In the 1990s, Mexico’s national institute for adult education (INEA) received an important boost and was instrumental in introducing conceptual and methodological changes into educational programmes for young people and adults. Formal and informal educational systems have been unable to teach the skills which people need for work. The average schooling of the workforce is poor and, if the structure of current education systems does not change, the poorest sectors of the population will continue to be deprived of the skills they need to succeed in a knowledge- and information-based society29. The knowledge of society and its relationship with the world of work call for flexible and coordinated educational systems with many different avenues of entry and exit for students. At the same time, educational systems must gear themselves to the variety of needs, different paces of learning and increasingly diverse cultures of pupils. More women participate in literacy programmes and in domestic training or community education programmes than men, whereas more men participate in basic adult education programmes (Messina, G,. 2001:24). There are also fewer women in work-based training programmes, since women require special conditions to remain in adult education, such as job flexibility, training centres close to home, grants and subsidies and nursery schools or pre-school centres.

5. Education quality In spite of the rise in primary and secondary education coverage in Latin America, there are still significant school dropout rates in both cycles. This jeopardizes the ability to achieve the goal of universal primary education for all boys and girls by the year 2015. According to data for 18 countries from ECLAC (2002b), seventy percent of the young people who drop out of school do so before finishing primary education, a situation affecting 10.5 million students. The rates vary from country to country, as well as between sexes and between urban and rural areas. In the region, people drop out of school almost always, or more often, during the primary cycle. In Guatemala and Honduras, 40% and 47% of children respectively drop out before completing primary school (1999 data). In Mexico, 35% of primary school pupils dropped out in the same year. At the end of the past decade, the largest dropout rate was concentrated in rural areas, where the overall rates are 76% for Honduras and Guatemala and 60% for Mexico (ECLAC, 2002b:105). In urban areas, pupils chiefly drop out at the end of the primary cycle or during the first year of secondary school, and this situation mainly affects poorer families. In rural areas, by contrast, dropout occurs almost

29 Brunner, J.J. América Latina al Encuentro del Siglo XXI. BID-UNESCO, América Latina y el Caribe frente al Nuevo Milenio. November 1998 (manuscript). For an analysis of adult education problems and possible strategies see: Pieck, E., “Making up for Lost Time: rescuing the Basics of Adult Education”. In: Hautecour, J-P. (Ed.) Basic Education and Institutional Environments. Hamburg, UNESCO, Institute for Education, 1997, pp. 323-348.

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exclusively during the primary cycle and a very low proportion of rural children in Guatemala and Honduras manage to complete their primary schooling. In Honduras, fewer urban girls drop out of school than boys do. In Guatemala and Mexico, by contrast, a higher proportion of women fail to enter the system or drop out before completing primary education. Pupils drop out of school is due to factors relating to the social condition of families and to internal factors associated with the efficiency of the system. Despite the scale of the problem, great efforts were made during the decade, resulting in lower dropout rates, primarily in rural areas, and higher survival rates in fifth grade and in primary education generally (see Table 9 attached)30. The main factors leading to lower dropout rates include: more pre-school education; better targeting of programmes on rural areas and isolated communities; greater involvement of parents in the school management (in the case of Guatemala and Honduras) and the impact of large-scale programmes such as Mexico’s PROGRESA. The indicators on education quality are also worrying when one analyses children’s attainment in the main disciplines. UNESCO studies of 13 countries in the region have delivered important results regarding language and mathematics performance in the third and fourth grade of basic education in Latin America31. In this study the countries are divided into three groups. The first group has an average performance of 343 (the case of Cuba); the second group has an average approximating the regional average of 256 (the case of Argentina, Brazil and Chile), and the third group performs below the regional average. The following table shows the scores obtained by various countries in the third subgroup.

Table 4 Language and Mathematics Scores (average)

in a group of countries

Language Mathematics 3rd grade 4th grade 3rd grade 4th grade

Colombia 238 265 240 258 Dominican Republic

220 232 225 234

Honduras 216 238 218 226 Mexico 224 252 236 256 Venezuela 242 249 220 231

30 This is an indicator of the proportion of students enrolled in the first year of primary school who complete a given cycle of education. The survival rate at the fifth grade of primary school is considered to be important, since it is a basic achievement to have completed at least four years of primary education (UNESCO, 2002). 31 UNESCO, Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación. Primer Estudio Internacional Comparativo. UNESCO-Santiago, 1998.

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Source: UNESCO, 1998: 54 and 55 The table shows that Honduras and Mexico have lower scores in language and mathematics in the third and fourth grade of basic education than the regional average32. Honduras has the lowest score for language in third grade and in mathematics in third and fourth grades. Guatemala has not participated in these regional studies, although it has had its own measurement system (PRONERE) since 1997, which is implemented by the University del Valle. The performance test results for third and sixth grade of primary school are mediocre. Moreover, the results of university entrance examinations demonstrate the poor quality of entrants into intermediate diversified education: in 2001, seventy-five percent of the students who took the basic knowledge tests for entrance to the University of San Carlos de Guatemala failed at the first attempt (CIEN-PREAL, 2002). Research has identified four major groups of variables affecting the learning results of poorer children. They are: teachers (staff, teaching quality, command of the subject); children (self-esteem; sociability; prior school history, e.g.. pre-school education and repetition); school impact (management, organization, atmosphere in the classroom, resources) and family (mother’s education; learning environment, sociability, expectations, etc.).

6. Conclusions

To sum up, the educational systems of the countries under analysis are characterized by poor access to pre-school education, almost universal primary school coverage and low pupil retention rates in primary and secondary education. They have high levels of repetition and education lag, which have a serious impact on dropout rates and learning achievement. In spite of on-going educational reforms, there are still major inequalities in access, efficiency and quality of education which primarily affect women and rural and indigenous communities. The countries under study will find it hard to meet the goals set for pre-primary education. The principal obstacles are the shortage of resources and low level of investment in the sector. There is also a lack of training and qualified personnel to cater for social and cultural diversity at pre-primary level. Non-conventional strategies that include the family and the community as key players are advocated in order to extend levels of coverage. Moreover, it is difficult to achieve 100% access to primary school, as the net enrolment ratios in Honduras and Guatemala indicate. Mexico’s experiments with non-conventional and distance learning schemes in primary and secondary education provide an interesting model to follow.

32 UNESCO, Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación. Primer Estudio Internacional Comparativo. UNESCO-Santiago, 1998.

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There are serious problems of learning quality, and educational policies must make sure to improve their rates. In most of the schools in the three countries, and in Latin America generally, schools fail to deliver in a number of areas, with inappropriate methodologies, curricular content not geared to specific pupil requirements, and school routines and communication processes that fail to take into account girls’ and boys’ personal and cultural diversity. Quality is being undermined by a learning environment characterized by inadequate support resources in the classroom and an inappropriate use of available teaching time. Current education reforms in Central America have focused on modernizing and decentralizing administrative systems, but have failed to pay due heed to teaching and curricular management (J.B. Arrien (1998). This has meant that attention to the educational aspects of change has been postponed for too long, until after the administrative changes have been introduced. This linear sequence of change has not produced the desired effects, which would indicate that the reforms should be conceived as a systemic process involving various factors at different levels. This means that change is guaranteed by synergetic interactions between the associated factors, rather than by any particular overarching factor. Any education reforms aimed at achieving quality must promote substantive changes in teaching practices and ways of learning. Educational management and administration are key to securing such change. Reform should motivate teachers in their teaching and, through changes in initial and in-service training, should help to provide them with the skills they need to teach in schools using new educational methods and resources. Bibliography Arrien. J.B., 1998: La Educación y la Reforma de la Educación en Centro América. Managua, Universidad Centro Americana (UCA)- PREAL. ECLAC, UNICEF, SECIB, 2001 Construir Equidad desde la Infancia y la Adolescencia en Ibero-América. Santiago, LC/G2144/P September. ECLAC, 2002. Mujer Rural, Escolaridad y Empleo en el Istmo Centroamericano. (Hacia una identificación de áreas prioritarias de políticas públicas). ECLAC. LC/MEX/L.514, 26 February 2002. ECLAC, 2001b. Panorama Social. Santiago; ECLAC. Cortinay, R. Nelly P. Stromquist, 2001. Promoviendo la Educación de Mujeres y Niñas en Latin America. Mexico, Editorial Pax. Jáuregui, M.L., 2001 “UNESCO y la Educación de Niñas y Mujeres en Latinoamérica y el Caribe”. In: R. Cortinay Nelly P. Stromquist Promoviendo la Educación de Mujeres y Niñas en Latin America. Mexico, Editorial Pax 2001 pp. 237-255.

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Messina, G., 2001. Estado del Arte de la Igualdad de Género en la Educación Básica de Latin America (1990-2000). Santiago, UNESCO. Muñoz Izquierdo, C. and R. Ahuja, 2002 “Función y evaluación de un programa compensatorio para escuelas primarias de los estados mexicanos más pobres: Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo y Oaxaca”. In: Reimers, F., 2002 pp. 501-544. Myers, R. 1993. Los Doce que sobreviven. Bogotá, UNICEF-OPS, 1993. Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), 1999, Perfil de la Educación en México. Mexico. SEP. Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), Educational Development. National Report of Mexico. Mexico, D.F., SEP. UNDP, 1998. Guatemala: Los Contrastes del Desarrollo Humano, Guatemala, UNDP. PREAL-CIEN. 2002 Informe de Progreso Educativo Guatemala. Guatemala, Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales. PREAL-FEREMA, 2002 Informe de Progreso Educativo. Honduras. Tegucigalpa, FEREMA. Reimers, F.(coord.), 2002 Distintas Escuelas, Diferentes oportunidades. Madrid, Ed. La Muralla. Rivero, J. 2000 “¿Equidad en la Educación?” In: Revista Iberoamericana de Educación. OEI, Issue 23, May-August 2000. Stromquist, N.P. et al. 2001 “Esfuerzos de USAID para ampliar y mejorar la Educación Básica de las Niñas en Guatemala” In: R. Cortinay Nelly P. Stromquist Promoviendo la Educación de Mujeres y Niñas en Latin America. Mexico, Editorial Pax 2001 pp. 285-312. UNESCO, 2001: Situation Educativa Latin America y el Caribe 1980-2000. Santiago. UNESCO-OREALC, 2001b. Balance de los 20 años del Proyecto Principal de Educación en Latin America y el Caribe. UNESCO-Santiago. UNESCO (2002) Education for All. Is the World on Track?. EFA Global Monitoring Report. Paris, UNESCO, 2002 Winkler, D, 2002. “La educación de los pobres en Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Ejemplos de educación compensatoria”. In: Reimers, F., 2002 pp.199-232

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APPENDICES Table 1. Latin America and the Caribbean: Enrolment and teaching staff in pre-school education (Insert UNESCO, 2001, SIRI [Sistema Regional de Información - Regional Information System] p. 31)

Table 2 Gross enrolment ratio in child development programmes in urban and rural areas

First year of the period Second year of the period Country

Years

Age Total Urban areas Rural

areas Total Urban

areas Rural areas

Guatemala 1992-1998 5-6 31.3 50.9 21.2 37.4 47.3 31.2Honduras 1990-1999 4-6 17.1 28.2 9.8 38.9 45.1 34.7Mexico 1990-1998 3-5 62.2 76.9 Panama 1990-1998 3-5 17.4 27.2 8.8 22.2 30.2 14.4Paraguay 1990-1997 4-6 8.9 18.4 2.2 22.6 28.5 16.0

Source: UNESCO-OREALC. Regional Information System (SIRI). Educational status of Latin America and the Caribbean 1980-2000

Table 3 Pre-school education. Pupils enrolled in each sector

Country 1980 1990 1997 GER

(1980) Private (1980)

GER (1990)

Private (1990)

GER (1998)

Private (1997)

Guatemala 21.0 38.23 31.3’ 37.4 Honduras 9.4 16.02 17.1 38.9*** Mexico 24.2 11.07 62.2 8.51 76.9 Panama 33.2 34.20 17.4 26.74 22.2 El Salvador 20.38 22.24 Nicaragua 7.6 42.91 17.2** 24.05 23.6 22.40 Ecuador 21.4 42.45 6.9 13.4 39.47

Source: UNESCO-OREALC. Regional Information System (SIRI). Educational status of Latin America and the Caribbean 1980-2000 * 1992; **1995 ***1999 Gross enrolment ratio in child development programmes

Table 4

Percentage of new entrants to the first grade of primary education who have experienced some form of organized early childhood development programme

First year of the period Final year of the period

Country Years Total Urban

areas Rural areas

Total Urban areas

Rural areas

Guatemala 1992-1998 11.2 21.1 6.5 24.0 47.0 15.3Honduras 1990-1999 Mexico 1990-1998 72.6 90.7

Source: National statistics. See UNESCO subregional statistics. (www. UNESCO.cl/05)

Table 5: Trend in the gross enrolment ratio by country and gender 1990-2001

Year Women Men Total Parity

index (W/M)

World 1990 93.1 105.5 0.88 1999-2000 96.5 104.0 100.25 0.93Total Latin America

1990 103.1 105.4 0.98

1999-2000 124.5 127.5 126.0 0.98Mexico 1998/1999 112.66 114.37 113.53 0.98 1999/2000 112.83 114.07 113.46 0.98 2000/2001 112.71 113.63 113.18 0.98Guatemala 1998/1999 88.51 99.44 94.09 0.89 1999/2000 93.87 105.29 99.70 0.89 2000/2001 97.66 106.47 102.16 0.91Honduras 1998/1999* 99.22 96.87 1.02 1999/2000* 98.11 96.27 1.01 2000/2001 107.11 104.98 106.03 1.02

Total World and Latin America page 69, EFA 2002 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Participation Rates by country and gender. *oei.org/quipu/Guatemala.

Table 6 Net admission rate by country and gender 1999/00-2000/01 (NIR)

Year Men Women Parity index (W/M)

World* 1999/2000 56.8 54.4 0.96Total Latin America*

1999/2000 67.4 68.4 1.01

Mexico** 2000/2001 82.62 85.95 1.04Guatemala** 2000/2001 62.03 59.22 0.95Honduras** 2000/2001 48.53 48.55 1.00*Total World and Latin America, EFA 2002 **UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Table 7 Pupils enrolled in primary education according to sex and grade, Guatemala 2001

Grade Men Women Total Percentage

Men Percentage

Women 1st 58,088.8 30,436.8 27,652.0 52.40 47.602nd 40,028.8 20,944.7 19,084.1 52.32 47.683rd 32,482.2 17,121.1 15,361.1 52.71 47.294th 26,935.4 14,487.3 12,448.1 53.79 46.215th 21,777.8 11,777.4 10,000.4 54.08 45.926th 17,840.9 9,735.5 8,105.4 54.60 45.43

Total 197,153.9 104,502.8 92,651.1 53.01 46.99 Source: Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Statistical Bulletin 2001. Primaria de niños 2, July 2002

Table 8

Gross Admission Rate by country and sex

Gross Admission Rate by country and sex Gross Admission Rate

Country Year Total Men Women Parity Guatemala 1998/1999 Guatemala 1999/2000 130.96 133.40 128.42 0.96 Guatemala 2000/2001 127.57 129.55 125.51 0.97 Honduras 1998/1999 Honduras 1999/2000 Honduras 2000/2001 138.61 138.58 138.64 1.00 Mexico 1998/1999 114.05 113.81 114.30 1.00 Mexico 1999/2000 113.44 113.19 113.69 1.00 Mexico 2000/2001 113.18 113.01 113.35 1.00 Latin America

1999/2000 115.75 117.30 114.20 0.97

World 1999/2000 101.80 102.30 101.30 0.99 Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics * Institute for Statistics’ estimate

Table 9 Net enrolment ratio by country and gender 1999/00-2000/01 (NIR)

Year Men Women Parity index

(M/W) Guatemala 1998/1999 79.08* 73.91 0.93*Guatemala 1999/2000 83.73 78.38 0.94Guatemala 2000/2001 86.44 82.08 0.95Honduras 1998/1999 Honduras 1999/2000 Honduras 2000/2001 86.84 88.43 1.02Mexico** 1998/1999 101.96 102.86 1.01Mexico 1999/2000 102.47 103.53 1.01Mexico 2000/2001 102.77 103.99 1.01

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) *Institute for Statistics (UIS) estimate ** A rate of more than 100% is conceptually incorrect. It is a result of discrepancies between census and enrolment information.

Mexico 2002

Table 10 Estimated illiteracy rate in the population over the age of 15 (%)

Country Year Total Men Women

Guatemala 1990 39.0 31.2 46.8 Guatemala 1995 35.1 27.4 42.7 Guatemala 2000 31.5 24.0 38.9 Guatemala 2005 28.2 20.9 35.4 Honduras 1990 31.9 31.1 32.7 Honduras 1995 28.3 28.0 28.6 Honduras 2000 25.0 25.1 25.0 Honduras 2005 22.0 22.4 21.7 Mexico 1990 12.7 9.4 15.7 Mexico 1995 10.5 7.9 13.0 Mexico 2000 8.8 6.7 10.9 Mexico 2005 7.4 5.7 9.1 Latin America 1990 14.9 13.2 16.6 Latin America 1995 12.8 11.5 14.1 Latin America 2000 11.1 10.1 12.1 Latin America 2005 9.5 8.8 10.3 Total World 1990 24.7 18.3 31.1 Total World 1995 22.4 16.4 28.5 Total World 2000 20.3 14.8 25.8 Total World 2005 18.3 13.3 23.3

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Table 11 Repetition and survival rates in primary education according to gender: 4th and 5th Years

Repetition rate (%) Survival Rate: 4th Grade Survival Rate: 5th Grade

Country Year Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men WomenGuatemala* 1998/99 15.6 15.6 15.6 Guatemala 1999/00 14.9 15.8 13.8 80.0*** 82.0*** 77.0*** 77.0*** 79.0*** 75.0***Guatemala 2000/01 14.5 15.1 13.7 Honduras** 1998/99 8.2 9.2 7.2 83.8 87.0 Honduras** 1999/00 7.9 8.5 7.2 Honduras 2000/01 Mexico 1998/99 6.6 7.6 5.5 91.2 90.4 92.0 89.0 88.0 90.0Mexico 1999/00 6.2 7.2 5.2 90.5 89.8 91.2 88.5 87.5 89.5Mexico 2000/01 5.5 6.5 4.4 95.2**** 96.7****

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics *National estimates ** La educación en cifras, década 1990-99 [Education in figures, decade 1990-99] *** World Bank, development research group ****

Table 12 Average number of years of schooling of the population older than 25

Maximum level of education achieved

Country Year Sex Coverage None Incomplete primary

Complete primary

Lower secondary

Upper secondary

Post- secondary

Guatemala 1981 M/W Total 55.0 27.3 8.6 2.9 4.0 2.2

Guatemala 1981 W Total 61.6 22.1 7.9 2.6 4.6 1.2Honduras 1983 W Urban areas 19.4 51.8 8.4 15.8 4.6

Honduras 1983 W Rural areas 46.9 50.3 1.0 1.7 0.1Mexico 1990 M/W Total 18.8 28.6 19.9 12.7 10.7 9.2

Mexico 1990 W Total 21.4 29.0 19.9 12.1 11.1 6.5Guatemala 1981 M/W Total 55.0 27.3 8.6 2.9 4.0 2.2

Source: Institute for Statistics Conapo,