Roundtable discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing the education system in Honduras

SUMMA and OECS, with the support of IDRC, organized the third Education Working Group, this time with KIX LAC representatives from Honduras, where the report “Challenges and Opportunities for the Education System in Honduras” was presented, carried out by researcher Edwin Moya for KIX LAC.

Raul Chacón, director of KIX LAC, welcomed and expressed special thanks to the participants, emphasizing that “it is important to coordinate efforts and create synergy among the various actors in the field of education in order to build on a shared vision and achieve long-term consensus.”

Honduras is one of the seven countries that make up Central America, with a population of 9.3 million, with a literacy rate of 89% and an average of 7.9 years of schooling (INE 2019), where 96.5% of people aged 15 to 24 are enrolled in school (BCIE 2020) and investment in education as a percentage of GDP is 4.4% (2020).

According to the report, the education system faces major challenges, and although education coverage has improved in the last decade, it is still at an unsatisfactory level, especially for pre-primary, third cycle of basic education, and secondary education, where at least 1 million children and young people do not enter the system or drop out. Before the pandemic crisis and the tropical storms of 2020, the National Institute of Statistics reported that 44% of the population aged 3 to 17 was not enrolled in the school system.

Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath require an education system with better conditions for blended learning and distance education. The implementation of virtual learning found educational actors struggling with adequate connectivity, with limited capacity to use technology and virtual platforms, without the appropriate devices to take advantage of educational offerings, and without control over learning or a system for providing feedback.

In this regard, the report suggests that a relatively young teaching staff would facilitate the incorporation of innovations to improve the quality of learning. Fifty-seven percent of teachers are under 40 years of age and 90% are under 50 years of age. This makes it possible to take advantage of the next ten years to make efficient investments that facilitate the incorporation of pedagogical innovations, emphasize the improvement of educational quality, incorporate more tools for virtualization, and manage school retention and trajectories at the appropriate age with better tools.

Finally, an improvement in educational infrastructure is proposed, a demand that requires urgent solution. Biosafety and technology conditions in educational centers have highlighted shortcomings in access to drinking water, wastewater disposal, technological equipment, and internet connectivity.

Subsequently, participants evaluated the research conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of education in Honduras and provided specific comments and observations to be incorporated and expanded upon in the document.

Florencio Ceballos, senior program specialist at IDRC, thanked the Honduran representatives for their active participation and involvement in KIX LAC, both in the preparation and review of the report, and assured that “teamwork and consensus on the main educational challenges will contribute to the development of better policies and strategies to address them in the most appropriate and sustainable manner.”

Participants included Gloria Menjivar, Undersecretary for Technical Pedagogical Affairs at the Ministry of Education; Russbell Hernandez, director of the CIIE at the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University; Alejandra Canales (coordinator of Teacher Training in Innovation at SUMMA); Doris Gutiérrez, Lucidalia Carranza, and Karen Chavez from the Honduran Ministry of Education; Lesbia Rodriguez; Tatiana Rodriguez from FEREMA; Rosa Maria Moncada, KIX Honduras Project Coordinator; Dante Castillo, Director of Innovative Policies and Practices at SUMMA; Maciel Morales Aceitón, KIX LAC Researcher; and KIX LAC Community Management Coordinator Mar Botero.