By Jamie McIntyre—

Founded in 2008 to assist rural communities near Huatulco, Bacaanda Foundation began to focus its efforts on rural education in 2013. In partnership with CONAFE, the agency responsible for rural education in Oaxaca, the Foundation now supports over 550 children and 63 teachers, in 59 schools across 23 rural communities.

Initially, the Foundation worked to establish suitable classroom environments for students and teachers. With donor funding and community support, it built or renovated 46 schools and 33 teacher residences.

This initiative led to Bacaanda’s “Intelligent Rural Schools Program,” which uses technology to enhance student learning, and along with investments in teacher training these technologies are now being used in all classrooms.

This year, the Foundation completed installation of Starlink satellite systems providing high-speed internet to all 59 schools. With 400 iPads now fully integrated into student learning, we are seeing primary student test scores in Spanish and Math improve, by more than 30% in two years.

A review found significant gaps in student literacy, so the Foundation added a literacy module in 2025, focused on reading, comprehension and writing. Proficiency improved dramatically from 23% of primary students proficient last year, to 63% this year.

Many teachers at Bacaanda schools are recent high school graduates who lack experience and formal pedagogical training. At its two training facilities, the Foundation works collaboratively with CONAFE to deliver teacher training, which has proven to enhance educators’ skill sets, self-assurance, and instructional effectiveness.

Also, Bacaanda’s six trainers provide teacher support both in-class and online, but retaining teachers remains difficult. To address this, Bacaanda, in cooperation with CONAFE, began offering teacher salary support last year. As a result, teacher turnover in 2025/2026 dropped to less than half its previous rate.

Bacaanda Foundation is a registered charity in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. For further details or to learn about tax-efficient ways to give to this wonderful organization, please visit http://www.bacaandafoundation.org