Schools in Honduras

Being a teacher, one of the things I wanted to do while I was visiting family in Santa Rosa de Copan was to visit my niece's school. She is a 9th grader at an all girls' Catholic school which is considered a private school. This is what I learned:

The school year runs from February to December.

High school is only three years.

Students have very few textbooks. The teachers provide whatever materials they can find or have on hand. Students take many, many notes. When I visited her school, she was in her science class. I asked her about labs and any hands-on type of activities they did in class, Sadly, they do not have many labs due to lack of materials. I also learned that the university in this town also has major issues with the lack of science materials. University chemistry students protested one day while we were there. I wondered if it did any good. The response I got was no.

Students do not change classes. The teachers are the ones that go to different rooms.

Public high school run in shifts. Some students attend in the morning while others attend in the late afternoon.

All students wear uniforms - white shirts and blue pants/skirts. Even students in the middle of nowhere. I saw children walking everywhere we went with these uniforms on.

When school is dismissed, vendors selling candy, soft drinks, etc. are waiting outside the schools.



Tonight we had 6th grade orientation at my school. We have moved into a new building with all the technology a teacher could ever dream of. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful environment to teach our students. I could not help but think about my niece in Honduras and the contrast between these two worlds. We take so much for granted in the US. If only those Honduras students could have the same experiences.