BILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR CENTRAL AMERICA

Causes: Community Coalitions, Education, Educational Services, International, International Cultural Exchange, International Exchange, Primary & Elementary Schools

Mission: Bilingual Education for Central America exists to promote cultural exchange and affordable bilingual education. Our volunteer driven bilingual school model creates an environment in which Central American students learn from dedicated volunteer teachers, and those volunteers learn from the community in which they are immersed. Despite being a region endowed with abundant natural resources and a vibrant culture, Central America has been marked by endemic poverty, income inequality, crumbling infrastructure, and a lack of quality educational and professional opportunities. BECA seeks to reverse these dynamics so that all Central Americans have the ability to express their full human potential. BECA believes that the most efficient and self-sustaining means of allowing Central America to flourish lies in the provision of quality education for all. The positive outcomes of a healthy educational system are many: the development of critical thinkers and innovators, the creation of a class of skilled laborers, and the growth of a socially-conscious citizenry. BECA envisions a region where everyone will have access to quality education regardless of economic means. To that end, we strive to collaborate with a vast network of schools that will graduate students who champion learning and literacy, challenge the status quo, and who embody a service-minded attitude to become persistent advocates for social change. Our goal is not to encourage students to pursue opportunities outside of Central America, but rather to empower and enable them to remain in the region by equipping them with the skills they need to access economic and social opportunity from within their native countries. We are not so arrogant to think that we North Americans can solve Central America's problems unilaterally. We alone do not have answers to the region's challenges, which is why we hold collaboration with local partners as an article of faith. Only if we work together with respect, honesty, integrity, and equality, do we believe we will accomplish our goal of achieving a sustainable educational and economic transformation.