The Oportunidades Program is an educational project of the Fundación Gloria Kriete (FGK), supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); whose objective is that young Salvadorans have better opportunities to learn with innovative education, connected in today's world and society.

The young people in this program acquire skills to adapt to the demands of high academic superior scholarship, and the demands of modern learning currently required in the use of information technology.

Among the important milestones of the class of 2023 are the experience in the world of programming and hardware development with the Arduino platform, mobile application development, 3D modeling and printing, and the incorporation of Virtual Reality OCULUS which are currently very valuable skills, with a promising present and future.

"This is the second promotion that we graduate in Sonsonate, through the years we are seeing how each young person is acquiring new skills and acquiring very valuable technical skills, and even more, life skills that will allow them to have a vision of development and personal progress and be real agents of change in their communities, our goal is that all young salvadorans have the same opportunities since quality education gives more equal opportunities", commented Juana Jule, executive director of Fundación Gloria Kriete.

All program participants learn different skills with a different and innovative educational culture, making Ron Clark's 55 rules, the values of the "CRIARSE" program and an honor code their own, making this a new way of life inside and outside the classroom.

Thanks to the updated education they receive, of the 47 young graduates at the Sonsonate site, 65% of students will study STEAM careers and 37% of girls will study engineering and technology careers.

During 17 years, Oportunidades has impacted the lives of more than 4,300 young people, 16 alliances have been signed with universities, more than 1,800 scholarships for higher education have been awarded, 783 people have completed the Employability Certification Program, and 944 young people have been placed in internships and permanent positions.

Since april 2021, FGK signed an alliance with USAID, jointly allocating US$14 million dollars, to operate six Oportunidades centers for a period of 5 years and benefit a total of 2,115 young people in the departments of Santa Ana, San Salvador, San Miguel, Sonsonate and surrounding municipalities, of which today we are reaping the rewards with these graduations.

Translated by: A.M