Past Project:
The Netzahualcoyotl Indigenous School Kindergarten Project (Mexico)

The Escuela Federal Primaria Bilingue "Netzahualcoyotl" is unique and important in the Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa region. Prevented from enrolling in one of the 100 local Spanish-speaking public primary schools because of their inability to speak Spanish and often extreme poverty (lack of shoes, decent clothes, money for the required uniforms, etc.), local indigenous children can attend, for free, this "alternative school". It was founded in 1994 by current Director Marina Sanchez Hernandez with 2 teachers and 20 children under a tree. Parents and teachers soon got together and built a small courtyard of primitive classrooms in the heart of the local "Colonia Primer Paso" neighborhood overlooking central Zihuatanejo.

Enrollment has continued to grow to close to 400 today, and the "Netza" School serves children ages 4-12 from four different regional tribes: Nuahas, Tlapanecos, Mixtecos, and Amusgos. All subjects are taught including math, geography, writing, art, with an emphasis on achieving fluency in Spanish so these children can integrate into local society. However, some of these children live on the street; others are from highly unstable homes or from poor villages outside the city center where there is no school. Thus - the school campus is central part of the student’s lives each week - with meals offered in the cafeteria and a dormitory for those who have to travel long distances.

In recent years - the government has mandated that children ages 4 to 5 must attend Kindergarten. In poor areas - such as the Netza area - this is hard to accomplish and afford in a 3rd world economy. The Kindergarten presently is a simple Lean-two shack with stick walls that let the rains and wind blow through - an area that uses simple chairs and equipment that we in Canada would not consider using for our children. Currently this little shack overflows with 65 eager youth, and the area promises many more in the years ahead - with no place to put them.