Todos Santos

Todos Santos

Before a bottle school was constructed in the municipality of Todos Santos Cuchumatan, the region was plagued by two major issues: there was no area high school at which a child could further their education; and the municipality lacked a system of trash management. As it stood before, the closest high school was two hours away and cost six dollars roundtrip to travel there. Additionally, the only trash dump in the area was dangerously located above a spring, thus contaminating the water.

For both of these reasons, it was a huge boost when the Municipal government approved the construction of the school on “community land”, and the national department of education authorized the school as a public institution and pledged to pay the teacher’s salaries.  Facilitated by Peace Corps volunteer Stefanie Fabrico, the construction of bottle school not only helped clean up the community by recycling the plastic bottles and trash from being thrown out, it also provided a place for teenagers to learn.  The bottle school now offers two career tracks for study: accounting and teaching.

High School
Population (approximately): 30,000
Classrooms: 1
Bottle School: 8