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Guatemalan school hosts Kaqchikel performance to promote Indigenous language preservation
More than 250 students, 97% Kaqchikel-speaking, participated in a cultural event promoting Indigenous language preservation through music and literature.
- On Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, a school in San Jose Poaquil hosted a program to celebrate Indigenous languages ahead of International Mother Language Day on Saturday, featuring Sara Curruchich's Kaqchikel performance and readings of Victor Santos's story.
- According to the Academy of Mayan Languages, a 2018 census found more than 6.4 million Guatemalans speak a Mayan language, Xinca, or Garifuna, while the illustrated book was published with UNESCO, Cholsamaj and the Mayan Language Preservation Project.
- Ninety-Seven percent of the school's more than 250 students speak Kaqchikel and took turns reading a Kaqchikel translation of Victor Santos, author, emphasizing valuing the mother tongue.
- Curruchich added that the project aims to raise awareness among younger generations and that `we hope the kids will also adopt them, not out of obligation, but with a lot of love,` so they `become the guardians of our languages.`
- Ahead of International Mother Language Day on Saturday, organizers prioritize translations into the 22 Mayan languages, focusing on the four most endangered: Itza', Uspantek, Mopan and Chorti.
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12 Articles
Associated Press News+10 Reposted by 10 other sources
Guatemalan school hosts Kaqchikel performance to promote Indigenous language preservation
An effort to conserve Indigenous languages has brought song and books translated to the Kaqchikel language to a school in Guatemala's western highlands.
·United States
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Total News Sources12
Leaning Left5Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution58% Center
Bias Distribution
- 58% of the sources are Center
58% Center
L 42%
C 58%
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