Tutorial Schools

The tutorial schools were initially established entirely by Guaymí Bahá'ís, who realized that only through education could their community progress and control its destiny.

Ruth Pringle was one of the first Bahá'ís to bring word of the Faith to the Guaymís. In a recent interview, she told how two brothers, Luis Cuevas and Cirilo Sanchez, started up the first tutorial schools after she and her husband visited the area in 1961, leaving behind some basic literacy primers and workbooks.




The centerpiece of the Guaymí Cultural Center in Soloy is a large, open-air meeting place, which was built almost entirely by the Guaymís themselves. Capable of accommodating several hundred people, it is used for large meetings, folk festivals and musical events. Materials for the galvanized roof were trucked in from outside, a contribution of the national Bahá'í community of Panama.



"After about a year and a half, we saw Luis again, and he announced that he had established a school in his community, so that the children could learn to read and write, and that they would never have to face the embarrassing situation that he had had to face of being ignorant for lack of these skills," said Ms. Pringle, who now lives in Costa Rica. "This was the first tutorial school to be established in the area, and it became the source of inspiration for the other communities over the years. So early on, the Guaymís themselves began to take charge of their own affairs."

Cirilo Sanchez, who like his brother was among the first Guaymís to embrace the Faith, said he and his brother were motivated in part because of the emphasis in the Bahá'í teachings on the importance of education -- and because of their own difficult experience at having to go out to Latino schools to get an education.

"When we became Bahá'ís, there were no public schools in the area, so we started teaching in our communities, my brother and I, teaching children to read and write," said Mr. Sanchez, who is 64 and lives in Soloy.

Although there are today some government-run schools in the Guaymí region, the system of Bahá'í schools continues to flourish.

"There are still places where there is no other school," said Alfaro Mina, a 39-year-old Bahá'í development specialist from Colombia, who now works as a full-time advisor to the Guaymís. "And in places where there is a government school, our schools start earlier, providing preschool education."

Mr. Mina said that in every case, the tutorial schools are taught by community volunteers -- usually young men -- who donate a year of service to their communities. This in and of itself is an enormous sacrifice for such a materially poor people, in that it often takes the teachers away from farming or other sources of income for this period.




The Cultural Center also features a combination dormitory/kitchen/classroom building, which was built largely by the Guaymí Bahá'ís themselves.



"The community helps by providing food, and we also manage to give a salary of $20 a month, which comes from the international Bahá'í community," said Mr. Mina. "We have a curriculum committee that provides three to four weeks of training, which takes place here in Soloy, at the Guaymí Cultural Center. "The school buildings themselves are very simple. Sometimes just a small hut or shelter, mostly open, with four pillars and a roof."

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