Educational Reform in Guatemala: Lessons from Negotiations between Indigenous Civil Society and the State

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the negotiations which took place between representatives of civil society — both indigenous and non-indigenous — and delegates of the Ministry of Education in Guatemala to design and implement a comprehensive educational reform. This reform was stipulated in two of the Peace Accords signed between the Guatemalan government and the insurgent Unidad Nacional Revolucionaria Guatemalteca (URNG): the Accord on the Rights and Identity of Indigenous Peoples, signed in March 1995, and the Accord on Socio-Economic Issues and the Agrarian Question, signed in September 1996. Focusing on the question of ethnicity, an attempt is made to highlight the imbalances and struggles that occurred in two of the commissions created by the Accords: the Parity Commission for Educational Reform (COPARE) and the Consultative Commission for Educational Reform (CCRE).² These difficulties occurred despite the general principles accepted by the parties to the peace negotiations, which included the pacific resolution of differences, tolerance, solidarity and unity in diversity.

Guatemalan Vice-Minister of Education (1996). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the government of Guatemala or the Ministry of Education.