Support a High School Student

Through Honduras Good Works students are given the opportunity to continue their education beyond sixth grade.  The cost per student is $275 annually.   This scholarship program is currently providing education for 130+ students in the El Pariso area, which is the area Bishop Allen has asked the Diocese of Central Florida to focus on.

To offer support make your checks payable to Honduras Good Works, on the memo line write “Scholarship” and send to:

The government of Honduras has a public school system that provides free schooling through the sixth grade. Many of the remote villages we serve will, at best, have a one or two-room schoolhouse and one-two teachers for all six grades. Our experience, however, is that these schools are substandard in every respect: books, supplies, curriculum. Often the teachers go unpaid for months at a time.

When a child graduates from the sixth grade, education stops for most students. Boys usually go to work in the fields with their fathers, or they gravitate to the cities for low paying jobs. Girls typically go home and help raise the children until they marry early and start families of their own. Marriages of girls at age 12-14 are not uncommon.

Education beyond the sixth grade (“colegio” in Honduras) is considered “private education” as the government does not require or provide education past primary school and these expenses must be paid by the parents. Costs for colegio include fees, uniforms, books, school supplies, and transportation from the rural villages. The annual cost is approximately $250 per student for each year of colegio, more than most rural families can ever afford.

The first three years of colegio are basic courses of science, history, etc; the last two years of the program are a student-chosen career track. If one completes an education career track, the person is qualified to teach in a primary school. Therefore, completing colegio moves one from menial work to professional work.