Higher education for indigenous students in Mexico

This past year the largest university in Mexico, Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) surveyed the number of students in Mexico who registered again for the next year in classes and found that more than one-quarter of all students did not return to school in 2021. This includes all ages and all grade levels. They found that the two major reasons that students did not return to school were economic because parents had lost their jobs to COVID and lack of access to online classes due to no access to the internet or computer. The researchers found that the dropout rate was accompanied by an increase in child labor in the country as young people went to work at odd jobs because they had to help support their families. This impact is greatest in rural and indigenous communities where access to modern technology is difficult and many families have had to migrate to find work. Students' lives are being uprooted in many different ways.

We are proud that this is not the case for our students. All of our students who did not graduate last year are still in school this year. For our college students, it has been an odd semester. We have not had a full group in the house for any great length of time. We have supported students this past in different ways depending on their needs with internet fees, travel to and from their villages, and other expenses that are not normally in their scholarships, we have needed to be very flexible to help them navigate online classes, illness in the family, restrictions in their villages on travel and vaccinations. We feel that they barely arrive and then have to return to their home for some reason or another, yet they are still enrolled in school and getting along as best they can.

 
Your support has helped these young women not become dropout statistics here in Mexico. We thank you for your support of our program especially in this time of great need. Our next semester starts in two weeks and we still are unsure how many students will return to the residential program and how many will be staying in their homes for remote learning. Omicron is surging in our region and hopes for in-person classes have faded.  Our goal is to support our students to continue in school despite the hurdles. We are now recruiting for the next school year as high school students are making decisions about their college studies. Your donations to Centro de Compartimiento make this possible. More young women from rural communities are not limited due to a lack of resources for room and board.

Thank you again for all your support this past year. We hope this new year brings relief from the stress and problems of the pandemic to you and your families.

This fall we are entering our third school year with remote learning. No schools in our region are in hybrid or in-person mode at this time as the Delta variant has struck our region hard. It has been a difficult summer for our students. Their small villages had not been affected much by COVID but this summer that changed. Three of our students lost a close relative.
Up until the week before school, there was talk about in-person classes but at the last minute, it was decided to stay online. The systems are getting better and students are used to the rhythm of online learning. The number of students in the house changes from week to week depending on their needs although this week most have returned.
Yet despite the apparent chaos the students are advancing. This summer Amayrani graduated from college with a degree in education. This fulfilled a dream she has had for many years. The year she started her final year of high school she called us to set aside a place for herself in our program. We often get students checking on the program but she kept up regular communication for a year. Now five years later she had graduated from college.
Amayrani was able to stay in her village during her studies, and your support help her have internet so she could continue her classes from home and help her family working in town Thanks to you another young woman who has a brighter future.