More than 20,000 elementary-age children in Guatemala will gain access to new high-quality, Spanish language books thanks to Child Aid’s book delivery efforts in February and March 2022. 

In the long shadow of the COVID-19 crisis and resulting school closures across the nation, Guatemala slowly reopens school doors this spring, and Child Aid, in anticipation of children returning to classrooms, stocks school library shelves with 48,000 books in 107 schools across four departments (states).

“Without good books, children cannot learn to read and become critical thinkers,” Child Aid CEO Nancy Press says. “Providing books to teachers and children in Guatemala gives wings to our literacy efforts. Everything else we do pivots on children having access to engaging stories, and that has never been more true than now, following an 18-month school closure.”

Most Guatemalan classrooms are lucky to have one or two books per student, and many of these books are outdated and not suitable for a child learning to read. 

The 48,000 books are fiction and nonfiction titles and are incorporated into lessons in nearly every subject taught in a Child AId school. Teachers create a culture of reading by encouraging children to spend time in school libraries and wheeling books on carts outside during recess so children can read during personal recreation time.

In rural communities where educational resources have always been scarce, Child Aid’s book donation program offers students access to a new world of learning, and an opportunity to develop literacy skills that will last a lifetime.

Students and teachers at the Tzununna school are excited to receive their first delivery of new books

Teachers from schools around Sololá pick up books at the Child Aid office in Panajachel.

The Child Aid team prepares boxes of book donations for delivery to schools.