Before 2013, young people had the option of becoming primary school teachers when they left high school. It was a three -year career that was taken in public establishments by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) and in private schools. This possibility was eliminated and replaced by a five -year model that includes university studies.
The iNiciativa 5770, Law of Normal Superior Schoolswhich has already passed through the third debate in the Congress of the Republic, could relive the training of primary school teachers at diversified level in normal schools, which, at the discretion of analysts and education specialists, does not guarantee an improvement in the quality of teachers.
The teaching career, according to the 5770 initiative, would be three years of studies at the Normal School, which would be completed with a year of university specialization, in areas such as computing, mathematics, reading and writing, among others. The proposal recognizes schools, normal institutes, both public, private, by cooperatives and municipal, under the Rectory of Mineduc.
According to Deputy Lucrecia Marroquín de Palomo, of the Commission for Education, Science and Technology, the urgency of approveing the initiative lies in attend the shortage of primary school teachers that there is to cover the public, private, municipal and cooperative sectors.
Palomo indicates that the change to the Baccalaureate in Sciences and Letters with orientation in education – two years -, to complete the training with a three -year teachers at the university level, discouraged young people who want to study the teaching career, which diminished the human resource to fill the places that are vacant today.
“With this initiative we will have teachers again, but it will not be immediately because four years of study are contemplated,” says the deputy. Article 20 of the proposal establishes that the initial training in all modalities will be three years of study in a higher normal school, and one more to obtain the specialization of professor at any university in the country.
To work as teachers, the legislator adds that It is not enough for young people to take the three years of diversified; They must have a specialization at a higher level.
Will the FID disappear?
The proposal, then, would eliminate the Baccalaureate in Sciences and Letters with orientation in education that was implemented in 2013, and would return to a three -year career at a diversified level.
In addition, the three years of the Initial Teacher Training Program (FID) would be suppressed at the university level, to study only one year in any specialization, such as computing, mathematics, reading and writing, among others.
The FID began in 2015 to raise the academic level and the performance of teachers, and impact students. However, the demand is in decline, as evidenced by the registration in three professors taught by the University of San Carlos de Guatemala.
For 2019 there were 11,716 registered in the professors of productivity and development, intercultural and intercultural bilingual primary education, a figure that descended to 5,176 in 2023.
In addition to training, the 5770 initiative also proposes that normal schools have the appropriate infrastructure that responds to psychopedagogical needs to prepare future teachers. From that account, they will have their own resources established in the budget of the Ministry of Education.
Marroquín de Palomo mentions that, to improve the preparation of future teachers, the courses will be taught by second teaching professors with specialty in the course or by graduates in Education Sciences or Pedagogy with experience.
Teacher shortage
The shortage of primary school teachers is a questionable point, because in the 2024 call that the Mineduc made for the hiring of personnel in line 021 54 thousand files were received, of which it was possible to hire about 4 thousand, and this year to another 3 thousand. Therefore, in the database They are about 47 thousand waiting for a placeaccording to ministry data.
However, most of these teachers graduated before 2012, when there was still the career of Primary Education Teaching at a diversified level, taught in normal schools.
The lack of teachers is not perceived in the official sector – there are 95 thousand 423 only in primary school, according to the statistical yearbook of education in Guatemala. The deficit is focused in some municipalities, and it is the private establishments that suffer the most. This extreme is shared by Palomo Moroccan, saying that schools have uphill the hiring of teachers for primary – there is 25 thousand 756 in the sector.
The problem, according to analysts, is that at this time there are no teachers trained to meet the educational needs of the 21st century. Therefore, if the 5770 law initiative is approved as presented, The problem of low educational quality will not solve in the background, evidenced in the results of the graduate tests that the MINEDUC performs every year.
A statement issued by civil society organizations related to educational issues, and published on March 3, mentions that it is urgent to make changes in the initial teacher training to improve childhood and youth learning. At that point, initiatives that seek that transformation are important.
#RELEASE: Although we recognize the importance of the initiative of the Law of Normal Schools, we ask the Congress to give a waiting compass for approval and listen to the recommendations of groups and actors with extensive experience and commitment to education. pic.twitter.com/wi6wkovhcg
– Great National Education Campaign (@Gcnpeguate) March 4, 2025
However, they are concerned about the writing and background of some articles of the Law of Normal Schools, so they ask the Congress of the Republic to give a waiting compass to listen to the recommendations of different sectors and avoid setbacks in the process of training of teachers.
The Mineduc considers that the law initiative can open opportunities to the development of a new teacher training career. However, there are issues that must be discussed, such as the continuity of university training, so as not to replicate the model that was deleted in 2012.
The portfolio works in a new teacher training design that links the learning achieved in the diversified with professionalization at the university level.
It should be remembered that this Initiative has already passed the third debate And he is waiting for a space on the legislative agenda for discussion, approval by articles and final writing.
Bet on educational quality
Lucía Verdugo, National Education Official of UNESCO Guatemala, mentions that any action, policy or law initiative that addresses the initial teacher training must focus on educational quality, since the teacher is a key piece in the teaching-learning process.
A UNESCO report refers that the teaching scarcity phenomenon occurs in the rest of the globe and is due to the lack of vocation for teaching, the social assessment given to the profession, low remuneration and the few possibilities of developing a teaching career.
On Guatemala, Verdugo indicates that it is said that teachers begin their practice at a very young age, so it is necessary to review the years of schooling and that they must be professionalized at a higher level. It is important that they have more life experience, didactic, practical and cultural knowledge to transform the Guatemalan education system.
The ODS4-EDUCATION 2030, UNESCO monitoring report indicates that GUatemala and Nicaragua are the two Latin American countries with a high proportion of teachers trained at the secondary level. At the discretion of executioner, this places the country at a disadvantage in terms of the qualifications that teachers must have to teach children and young people, who in a few years will be the country’s productive force.
“When we think in terms of the Massification of Initial Teacher Training, we must be careful with the quality with which this training will be taught,” he adds.