Barriers for Education in Honduras

Barriers for Education in Honduras

An education is of utmost importance to improve oneself, a society, or even an entire nation! Unfortunately, in third world countries such as Honduras, education is something everyone wishes for, but face barriers to attain. The big question is, what makes getting an education difficult for these Hondurans? Well, a combination of political, technological, intellectual, social , and financial factors prevent Honduran students from receiving the education they are entitled to by the Constitution of Honduras.
In March 2011, hundreds of Honduran teachers went on strike because of the low wages they were paid. This resulted in 305 teachers being suspended, and no education for the children the teachers taught. These frequent clashes between the government and the teachers’ union results in abandoned classrooms and illiterate children (“HONDURAS” para.5). A common question is, why does the government not enforce strict rules? Well, the Constitution of Honduras clearly states that a free education needs to be given to every child between the ages of 7-14. While such a rule is prompted by the government, teachers nor parents encourage education for their students. Many reasons exist for this lack of encouragement, but one specific cause being that teachers already have up to 80 children in one classroom, since schools are scarce. It is difficult to manage such a large number of students, and therefore teachers are reluctant to more students. Student to teacher ratios are high because there are not that many schools around in this nation (“Honduras - EDUCATION” para.3). Also, teachers receive extremely low wages and continue to extend the school year due to the myriads of strikes they go on. The absence of teachers results in extremely short or long school days, because there is not an exact time in or time out of school. This results in the education becoming unaccountable for and divided. This makes planning for transportation and other necessities difficult for parents, contributing to them withdrawing their children from school. Teachers don’t cooperate with the government either because of the low salary, which is what causes them to go on strikes in the first place. A combination of these political factors result in a poor education for Honduras’ children.