摘要：It is well known that Guatemala is one of the countries in the World with highest illiteracy rate, reaching the 59% in youngsters between 20 and 29 and, in all cases, this was after 20 years of political efforts aiming at an universal free primary education to let the citizens improve quality of life () and facilitating equal opportunities in social participation (), being this one of the essential factors for social cohesion. Therefore it is necessary to perform an analysis of the low rate of registered literacy and its consequences, and to establish the necessary debate to identify the causes generating these difficulties to achieve greater coverage of education, since it enables us to actively participate also in the achievement of collective rights, which are essential for human dignity. For this purpose, a democratic process requires people to actively participate. And it is essential in the process to have properly literate individuals. We believe one of the issues that are limiting access to education is directly related to this cultural diversity in the country. We are specifically talking about the diversity found in indigenous peoples, which is the population who suffers most from global illiteracy, giving rise to a situation of discrimination, together with other popular sectors (). That is why it is necessary to open the debate on what are the causes of this situation, the pursuit of a real intercultural education (Garcia & Sánchez, 2012) which recognizes the values of indigenous peoples creating spaces of respect and dialogue. It is also necessary that these aspects are taken into account right now. Both in teacher training and the criteria applied by the national system, reducing racism, discrimination and the exclusion at present. It would be done by focusing on the development of appropriate policies that benefit the whole population and strengthen the rule of law ().
关键词：Quality of life;Intercultural education;original people;racism;cultural diversity
