The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
and cultural assimilation. By emphasising that »language is culture and culture is language«,
Barreiro (2001: 24) points to the need for retention of traditional languages in
order to safeguard the wisdom of the older generations and the knowledge and values
that create culture. When conversing about the formal schooling system, an informant
in San Benito expressed a divergent opinion: »Es lo más importante en la vida saber y aprender«
– the most important thing in life is to know and to learn. When asked about future plans,
his 19-year-old son replied: »Nowadays the young people have to study, to acquire knowledge in
order to be capable of solving problems« (field notes, 2002). These comments seem to be in
line with what Siebers (1996) observed with respect to perceptions of education
among Q'eqchi' peasants. His finding revealed that they consider access to education an
important issue for the improvement of relations with Ladinos and also with members
of other Mayan groups. To be able to communicate in Spanish and to learn to read
and write is, according to his observations, highly appreciated. 74 But he also mentions
that although parents in general are motivated to send their children to school, they
often take them out before they finish, either because they are supposed to get married
or because they have to work in order to help their parents. Despite a national
programme of bilingual education that was set up as early as in the 1980s with the objective
of attending to the educational needs of the Mayan population, he states that in
most schools, instruction is given in Spanish, while the children in general only speak
Q'eqchi' when they enter school (1996: 64f.). However, current educational policies
emphasise the need to begin the first years of schooling in the mother-tongue and
then gradually shift to classes in Spanish (Flores Arenales 1999: 123). 75
Fig. 5.21 Classroom setting in Roq-há 76
74 As to elementary education, 74 percent of the communities in Alta Verapaz have a primary school.
However, the rate of illiteracy is 58 percent, with a higher rate of 70 percent among women (Letona
1999: 37). In San Benito, for instance, none of our informants' wives had a formal education. The
large majority of their daughters today go to school and even in some cases receive higher educations.
75 Further facets of questions related to the field of education will be discussed in chapter 5.4.3
where education as a means of conserving indigenous knowledge will be dealt with.
76 Subjects of primary school education (6 grades) include reading and writing (Spanish), mathematics,
natural sciences and social studies.