The Education System in El Salvador

I went to El Salvador with this preconceived notion that the people there had less than me. While this was true in some aspects, it was also untrue in others. These ideas were false mainly involved the education system of the El Salvadorans.

To begin with, the actual education system in El Salvador has both differences and similarities than the education system in Canada. Firstly, when we asked René, the representative from Salvaide in Ottawa travelling who travelled with us, how the education system worked he told us his story of moving to Texas and being more advanced than the students.
He said that when he moved, his new class in Texas was just learning addition and subtraction when he could already multiply and divide. Similarly, in a University of Michigan paper a Salvadoran student explained his experience in school in the United States compared to El Salvador as “easy”. Secondly, the grade system in El Salvador has both differences and similarities than in Canada. The main difference in El Salvador is the levels of school and the age groups for those levels. Based on the University of Michigan paper there is preschool for ages 4-5, kindergarten for age 6, primary school for grades 1-9 and ages 7-15, a baccalaureate program for grades 10-11 and ages 15-17, and then University for ages 17+. A similarity is the ages of the students in each grade level, much like St. Pius X the students in each grade are the same. Meaning the students in grade 9 in El Salvador are 14-15, much like the age of the students at St. Pius X in grade 9. Thus, there are both differences and similarities within the education of El Salvador compared to not only Canada but also the United States.

Also in El Salvador there is a lack of resources, like pencils, paper, textbooks, chalk, pens, erasers and other resources, that here in Canada we see as ‘essential’. On every student in my mentorship class there is a pencil case full of pens, pencils, erasers, and multiple other writing utensils that they buy at the beginning of the year and can replenish anytime they wish. While in El Salvador, the children had only a few pencils and pens, which they are provided with at the beginning of the year, by the school. A package is given to students to ensure that each child can attend school and their parents do not have to worry about the expense of these ‘essentials’. In Canada, parents do not give a second thought about buying these ‘essentials’ but in El Salvador if a family cannot afford these essentials they usually take the year off in order to work to save money for the next school year.

Lastly, the passion and dedication of each student is considerably higher than those of students in Canada. Where students in El Salvador would take a year off in order to save up enough money for school, many students in Canada would rather take the year off if they had the chance. In each classroom visited in Las Vueltas each child seemed eager and happy to be there, while in mentorship class students arrive late daily and some do not seem happy to be there. Where most students in El Salvador do not have the choice in attending a post-secondary institution, students in Canada take it for granted. During the presentation with Wilmer, Arnoldo and Antonio when asked if they could go to University what would they study they were not asked when but if, signifying that it wasn’t a guarantee. While in Canada, students in grade 12 take it for granted that they get to go to University or College. Thus, the dedication and passion of the students in El Salvador is considerably higher than some students in Canada.

Coming back to Canada, I realize the preconceived notions I went to El Salvador with were completely wrong. Although the schools did have fewer resources, the passion and dedication of the students made up for it. For the students in El Salvador, University may not have been a given like it is for me but the dedication the students gave to their studies was more than I could say I have given. All in all, those notions I went to El Salvador with are gone as I have seen firsthand the education system and have even done some more research to fully understand how it works.

This is a picture taken after we got off the bus in San Jose Las Vueltas. As you can see, behind and around us are children who were lined up perfectly in school uniforms. In the picture are the students and teachers from St. Pius X, the mayor of Las Vueltas, the principal of the schools in Las Vueltas and Miguel, Salvaide's representative in El Salvador. The town was very welcoming to to us and made us feel at home, which was very lovely.

After our picture was taken, we walked toward the school. As we passed the students lined up, they would follow behind us. It put into perspective the amount of students that used the schools facilities, as there was just so many of them.

Here is the banner that the school made to welcome us. It was fantastic that they made the effort, and incredibly heartwarming. 

Here is one of the classes we visited earlier in the day. I wish we had pictures of every class like this, but we were on a tight schedule as we had to see every class and tour the town all in one day. These students were so welcoming and gracious when we visited though and the whole day was too good to be true.