Guatemala City - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability of international schools? What has been your general experience with them, if any?
I haven't had experience with them but I know there are bullying issues with some children leaving for boarding school. It seems to be great for the younger set but harder for high school kids. Colegio Maya is a small and supportive school and most embassy kids seem to go there. - Mar 2023
The best English-language American school is usually considered to be Colegio Maya; a majority of embassy kids attend. It's small, with one or two classes per grade, but they have beautiful facilities and impressive programming and extracurriculars, given the small student body size. It's probably the most competitive American school in Central America to get a job as a teacher, so the faculty are great. Unfortunately, it's very far away from the city. From Cayala, the bus trip is 25 minutes with no traffic, but 40 minutes is more usual and as there have been some road repair issues lately (the infrastructure is crumbling), the bus home has sometimes taken 1.5 hours and up to two hours. There is also a very good bilingual international school, CAG, where a decent number of embassy kids attend, especially in the younger grades. It's only a couple minutes from housing in Cayala and also has a lovely campus. It's huge (several thousand students) and people seem happy with it, too. However, teachers there have told me that it's "an American school in name only". Over 90% of its student body is native Guatemalan and as you get into older grades I've heard that cliques and exclusionary behavior are more common. - Oct 2022
There are three international schools, we don't have any experience with these as of yet. - Jul 2021
There are several school options, and most seem happy with the two major schools: CAG and Colegio Maya. CAG is very close to Cayala, but it is the elite school in all of Central America, and that comes with its own problems. Maya is only English-speaking, and quite a hike out of town, but the campus is beautiful. - Jan 2020
There are several international schools available and most Embassy families choose either Colegio Americano de Guatemala (CAG) or Colegio Maya, although there are also kids at Equity. Each school has a different feel to it. I don't think there's a bad choice to be made: the academics, class sizes, and teaching staff at all three are excellent, and the kids seem to be happy and thriving. - Mar 2019
Stereotypes: Colegio May - the smallest English based curriculum. All grades represented in fewer than 500. Average, more diverse, some sports, clubs. InterAmericano - all grades -1100 students, some sports, clubs. Less diversity, Cag Americano - large school, money elite families, some bullying, high academics, less sports, clubs. - Feb 2019
No personal experience, but at least the families I know with elementary-aged children and younger seem very happy with their choices. - Jun 2015
There are a few schools that most U.S. kids go to--Colegio Maya, Equity American School, Interamericano, and Americano. Colegio Maya is in Zone 16 and probably has the best facilities but we chose not to go there because the drive can range anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours depending on traffic and natural disasters (earhtquakes and landslides). Our child went to Equity, which was only about a 5 minute drive away. We've enjoyed the small class sizes, frequent field trips, and school performances. It's fine for elementary, however it lacks the resources (large library, music, art, enrichment opportunities, etc.) and sports teams that we would want if our child were in high school. - Apr 2014
Colegio Maya, where most international students go, and Colegio Americano, which is significantly larger and 90% Guatemalan. Both schools have advantages and disadvantages but are equally high in quality. - May 2010
I don't have personal experience with the schools, but Maya seems to be popular. - Mar 2008
