When children as young as kindergarten sit down for their first experience with computers using software in their native Mayan language, K'iche', the lessons learned go far beyond mastering basic computer skills. Students are learning that their indigenous language and culture are a vital part of their society.
It wasn't always so. Marleny Tzicap, a teacher and linguist working with the Guatemalan nongovernmental organization (NGO) Enlace Quiché, describes how attitudes have changed regarding the use of Guatemala's 22 native languages.
"Our father had many difficult experiences when he was growing up and only spoke K'iche'. People discriminated against him and treated him as though he was stupid. He did not want his children to experience the same thing, so he and my mother only spoke to us in Spanish," she recalls.
Growing up in Momostenango, a small town in western Guatemala, Tzicap was exposed to K'iche' in the homes of her neighbours and that of her grandfather, who refused to speak Spanish in his home.
The conflicts over language and cultural identity that Tzicap experienced were mirrored in homes throughout Guatemala, perpetuated by the civil war and a school system that, until the late 1990s, actively discouraged the use of Indigenous languages in the classroom.
Source: IDRC.
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