Mesoamerica is a multicultural region. But it has only been within the past decade that this reality has begun to be reflected in the laws and constitutions of the region. While commitments have been made to guarantee fair access to education for Indigenous peoples, Indigenous languages and cultures continue to be marginalized  and vast discrimination persists. Intercultural bilingual education is key to building more inclusive and just societies.

Traditional mainstream education in Mesoamerica has often been monolingual (Spanish), denying the existence of other languages and cultures. As a result, the region’s Indigenous peoples have faced strong pressures to assimilate and abandon their culture, expressed by their religion, dress, language and community structure. Throughout Mesoamerica, Indigenous people are demanding for inclusion and challenging historical top-down educational policies and approaches. They stress the importance of providing learning environments in the first language of Indigenous peoples as it will provide youth with a solid base to develop intellectually and holistically within their language and culture.

What’s Horizons Doing?

In 2010, Horizons and our partner the Santa Maria Linguistic Project, launched a regional project on Intercultural Bilingual Education. The launching took place in the city of Quetzaltenango,  Guatemala, with the participation of over one hundred representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama speaking thirteen distinct Indigenous languages. The overall goal of this project is to expand citizens’ networks in Mesoamerica and strengthen a strong social movement that will champion the rights of the regions’ citizens to intercultural bilingual education.

Visit the website of the regional project on Intercultural Bilingual Education by clicking here.

Visit Bilingual Education in Mesoamerica learning network.