Especially in rural areas, the opportunity to progress in school shrinks radically when youth graduate from elementary school. Students must travel by bus to a larger school, buy uniforms, books and lunches, and pay registration fees. Many families cannot afford this. Only one in four students moves past the 6 th grade. Since 1999, SOL has sponsored an Educational Advancement Program to help promising rural youth go to high school.
Some students help each other with their homework assignments.
In each case, the main impetus for advanced learning is to help their community. Students give back A scholarship in Central America is not a free ride. In Nicaragua, scholarship students are monitored by SOL staff, required to maintain at least a C average, and expected to help younger students in the Learning Resource Center twice a week. Jose Vega helped build his elementary school in La Remonta in 1994 and is now an 8 th grade scholarship student. They become part of the SOL educational team.