More background on CEES and Popular Edaction
in El Salvador is available from:
CoCoDA
609 E. 29th St.
Indianapolis IN 46205 tel: 317/920-8643.
E-mail address is: cocodaindy@igc.apc.org.
Tim Crouse
CoCoDA
We want our taxes in El Salvador to support Popular Education
Programs!
Send a letter to the USAID Mission in El Salvador
April, 1995
During the 12-year Salvadoran civil war, which ended with the
signing of peace accords in 1992, community-based education
programs were organized in refugee camps and other affected urban
and rural communities, to provide basic education and adult
literacy to people who have never had access to formal education.
Gradually, these education programs developed into a national
movement, led by self-educated community volunteers known as
'Popular Teachers'. By 1994, Popular Education programs were
providing basic education and adult literacy classes to
approximately 20,000 Salvadorans in 275 communities in 117 of the
262 municipal districts of El Salvador.
In 1993, community-based organizations working with Popular
Teachers throughout El Salvador came together in an association
called the Concertacin Educativa de El Salvador (CEES), and sought
to negotiate the incorporation of Popular Teachers into the
national education system of the Salvadoran Ministry of Education.
Specifically, a proposal was presented to provide study and
training grants for 1,300 Popular Teachers, with the objective of
providing modest salaries for them to continue teaching in their
home communities. The US Agency for International Development
(USAID) SABE Program in El Salvador, established to provide
reconstruction money for primary education in El Salvador,
expressed interest in financing such a project.
Now, after two years of ineffective negotiations and shuttling
between meetings with the Ministry of Education and USAID
officials, CEES has not been able to secure government funding for
the Popular Teachers, and most of the SABE program's money has been
spent on programs more aligned with the government's political
agenda. A project proposal drafted by AID officials in early 1995
outlined a plan to provide grants for 470 Popular Teachers, but
was designed in a way that would ultimately undermine the Popular
Education programs and the active role of the NGO's that comprise
CEES. Most of the Popular Education programs are in rural areas
where the government has no education programs, and among
population that suffered most during the war. During the war,
more than one billion US tax dollars were sent to the Salvadoran
government in the form of military aid. Today, SABE officials
have stated that $125/month is much too high for a monthly
work/study stipend of a Salvadoran Popular Teacher. The USAID
mission in El Salvador needs to hear what you think!
Points to emphasize:
1. Preserve the remainder of SABE Program funds for work/study
grants of Popular Teachers.
2. Include the Concertacin Educativa de El Salvador (CEES) in the
elaboration and implementation of the work/study program for
Popular Teachers.
Send your letters to:
Mr. Peter Deinken, Director
Office of Education & Health
USAID / El Salvador
c/o US Embassy
Urbanizacin Santa Elena y Antigua Cuscatln
San Salvador, El Salvador C.A.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **
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