The Secondary School Crisis in Honduras
AEH help girls choose an alternate path
Honduras is ranked third in Central America in adolescent pregnancy rates. Girls 15-19 years old in rural areas are particularly at risk due to limited access to education in their most critical teenage years coupled with high poverty rates.
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In rural areas, the nearest middle school is often an hour or more walking distance through unlit mountain paths. This puts young girls at a disproportionately high risk of potential assaults or accidents on their way home from school. For this reason, most parents choose to not send their girls to school.
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For girls ending their education at 6th grade, most will find themselves confined to their homes cleaning, looking after siblings or moving to the capital city to work in domestic chores.
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The percentage of students completing secondary school in urban areas lies around 65% while rural youth have a below 30% chance of finishing this next step in their education.
While more than 11,000 public primary schools operate nationwide, there are only about 900 upper secondary schools.
Challenging the status quo of rural education
This is the typical image of a rural Honduran classroom. It is common to find schools that are in great need of repair, with bathrooms that haven't functioned properly in years, and an urgent need for improvements in classroom design.
Learning inside the classroom is largely centered on memorization and traditional instruction methods.
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AEH takes a different approach to rural education. Our teaching methodology applies project-based learning and our classrooms are multi-functional, with technological capabalities, inspiring a collaborative environment for students to co-create.
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