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Now in its fourth year, our Nicaragua Education Program continues to progress and grow. The FSF (Fútbol Sin Fronteras, or Soccer Without Borders in Spanish) Education program encourages girls to invest in their education by providing an all-around support system that offers daily study hours, computer access, and scholarships for school fees and/or school supplies and uniforms.
According to UNICEF, when looking at the educational statistics across Nicaragua:
The primary school enrollment is 95%, but just 56% of these students will move on from primary school.
The secondary school enrollment is just 49%, and of these only 47% attend regularly.
It is in this context that the FSF Education Program was created, to build a different narrative for and with the girls in our program. As the 2017 school year has just recently begun, we are thrilled to announce that the academic pass rate for our program participants in 2016 was 97%, the highest it has ever been. If we look even closer, those participants in secondary school- the most at-risk statistically- maintained a 96% academic pass rate, up from 86% last year. We continue to see uncommon outcomes among our participants, a tribute to their hard work and perseverance, and the investment that our staff mentors, coaches, and tutors have made in addressing the barriers at each stage.
Although we are proud of this result, we continue to seek ways to improve the program, ensuring that we are reaching as many girls as could benefit from this opportunity, that our current participants are getting the most out of their education, and that they are prepared for life after secondary school. With this in mind, we are proud to announce that in 2017 we have expanded our scholarships to not only secondary school students, but primary school students as well, offering school supplies and uniforms to those who qualify. In addition, we awarded our first-ever university scholarship to Hasly P.- an 8 year veteran of the program and 2016 graduate. Hasly is now pursuing an engineering degree at a University in the capital city of Managua.
To learn more about the Granada Education Program and other activities, check out the new Program Activities Page!
