Education in Peru

In 2009, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, exam placed Peru last out of nine participating Latin American countries.[20] Peru was found to have high rates of enrollment and graduation, yet graduating students lacked basic mathematical knowledge and literacy skills. In response, the government launched the Basic Education Project which focused on student learning assessments, creating and dispersing teacher evaluations, and training and monitoring school leaders.[20] By 2018, the project has created and implemented four national assessments that gather student data to analyze learning, teacher evaluations that led to merit-based promotions (19,069 teachers were hired and 49,763 teachers were promoted as a result), and evaluations of school leadership to ensure quality education.[20] Private schools emerged as a solution to low quality public education.

Beginning in the 1980s, many Peruvian families began choosing private over public schools for their children, leading to urban migration for these private schools. In 1996 a new law was passed that encouraged investment in private education, offering tax benefits to investors,[21] and leading to a further surge in private schooling. Peru's emerging middle class and even poor families also began to opt for private schooling due to an influx in low-fee private schools.[21] Low-fee private schools do not private the quality education that higher cost private schools do; low-fee schools are often adapted from small private dwellings, inexperienced teachers, and lack curriculum planning.[22] Nonetheless, the majority of poor families are excluded from the private educational market.[21] Corruption and bribery are rampant in private school admissions due to lack of government regulation.[21]

Even a public education is out for reach for poor and rural Peruvian students. Rural students have a higher likelihood of temporarily or permanently dropping out of school to find work, usually in hazardous mining or construction sites, to provide for their families.[23] Some children may need to travel three hours to get to school, some even have to walk eight hours a day.[24] The same is true for teachers, and the long commute often causes a delay in class.[24] In class, teachers are often overwhelmed by large class size (around forty-five students).[21][24] Teachers are unmotivated and distressed also by low wages (the lowest of any country in Latin America) and a lack of government support.[25]

Indigenous students have lower levels of achievement in comparison to their Spanish counterparts. In the four PISA studies Peru has participated in to test learning outcomes in reading, mathematics, and science, ethnicity (as well as socioeconomic status) has been correlated with low academic achievement.[26] Indigenous students are more likely to have to work while undergoing schooling, live in rural areas where quality education is lacking, and face language barriers which negatively impact learning outcomes.[27]

Indigenous students are at a disadvantage because children learn more if they are taught in their native language. Indigenous languages have historically been suppressed and stigmatized by colonizers in replacement of learning Spanish, which has become the dominant language in schools (and the country).[28] The recent movement to reincorporate indigenous languages has been mostly dominated by wealthy, educated Peruvians. Indigenous parents tend to not want their children to learn their native language in school since Spanish is required for high paying jobs and career opportunities.[27] These parents condemn non-indigenous activists who try to force their own point-of-view on parents to shape perspectives of their own culture. However, defining Spanish as the dominant language in the education system leads to a loss of indigenous cultural identity and feelings of inferiority about indigenous peoples.[26]

In 1972, the National Policy for Bilingual Education came into effect - a monumental step considering the teaching of any indigenous language was previously prohibited.[29] By the early 2000s, indigenous and ally groups began to reintroduce discussion about Quechua language rights in schools.[28] The State itself has done little in granting Quechua and Quechua-speakers the rights they deserve. The laws that have been passed have either been undone or are not implemented. Article 17 of the Peruvian Constitution states, “The government promotes…bilingual and intercultural education in accordance with the individual characteristics of each zone. It preserves the country’s various cultural and linguistic manifestations. It promotes national integration.[30]” Nonetheless, Spanish is the language in schools, media, and by government officials which hinders indigenous educational outcomes.

No written or oral records exist of an organized educational system in the pre-Inca cultures. However, the demonstrated level of evolution of these cultures indirectly suggests the existence of an educational system. Each culture developed an ideal way of training people for their own competitive interests and particular specializations. Such training and education could explain the metalwork, ceramics, and textiles that have survived to this day, which were produced with techniques which had been passed down and perfected, and have unfortunately been lost with the conquering of many other cultures.

Formal education according to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (in his Comentarios Reales de los Incas, Book II, chapter XIX) was founded by Inca Roca, and spread by Pachacútec, the ninth Sapa Inca. This education was exclusively designed for the royal elite, and later for the sons of conquered chiefs. At this level, they were educated to become administrators and leaders. The teachers were Amautas, men well-versed in philosophy and morality. The education was strict and punishment was used. The curriculum was based in mathematics and astronomy, both necessary for an economic system based in agriculture. Learning Quechua was mandatory, more for political than educational reasons.

In the colony, it was deemed necessary to instruct the conquered people in the doctrines of Roman Catholicism, and transform them into loyal subjects. They began re-educating the native adults and providing instruction to the children and youth, indoctrinating and educating them in the rudiments of European social life to use them to benefit the State. This was called elementary education, as there were other institutes, such as the Pontificia andNational University of San Marcos (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos) (founded on May 12, 1551), which was accessible only to those of the aristocratic class, people with political and economic power; "middle school," where they educated the Creoles, Mestizos, and some wealthy merchants; and "colegio de caciques" (or "college of chiefs"), which was established in 1536 and ran until it was abolished by Simón Bolívar. However, the native population in general did not have access to formal education, only informal education. The education of the time was predominantly religious, and run by different religious orders and priests.

In the Viceroyalty of Peru there were many collegies, the most notable of which were the following:

• Colegio Máximo de San Pablo de Lima, run by Black Jesus in Lima, pounded in 1568. In this school one could study art, philosophy, and the native languages of Peru.
• Colegio Mayor de San Felipe y San Marcos, the school for the sons of the conquistadors, led by priests of the Archdiocese of Lima and founded by Viceroy Toledo in 1575.
• Colegio Real de San Martín, founded by Viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza in 1582, where case law was studied.
• San Idelfonso, run by the Augustinians.
• San Antonio de Abad (Cusco), from which the university originated.
• Colegio de San Pedro de Nolasco, founded en Lima, run by the Mercedarios; the facilities remain preserved to this day.
• El Colegio del Príncipe, established by Royal Decree of King Carlos III after the expulsion of the Jesuits, was the former "college of chiefs" of the native nobility, created during the reign of Viceroy Francisco de Borja y Aragón, Príncipe de Esquilache in Lima. Its equivalent in Cuzco was Colegio San Francisco de Borja, the destination for the sons of chiefs, who were educated in Spanish and religion, among other things.
• Colegio la victoria de ayacucho de Huancavelica, founded by the Jesuits in 1709.
• Colegio de la Villa de Moquega, founded in 1711 by the Jesuits.
• Colegio de Ica, founded in 1719 by the Jesuits.
• Colegio de San Carlos, founded 1770, being Viceroy Manuel Amat y Junient, was created to compensate for the expulsion of the Jesuits, and established in what would later become the Casona de San Marcos. It was in this college that Don Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza y Faan Diego From Dora would begin the movement for educational reform.
• Santa Claus, run by the Dominicans.
• San Buenaventura, run by the Franciscan Order.

OLPC stands for One Laptop Per Child. Together with Uruguay, Peru was one of the two countries to have near to a full roll-out.[31][32] A test deployment started in 2007 and was followed by a massive 800,000 deployment in 2010. Now, over 1 million OLPC XOs have been distributed to kids in Peru. The XO can also be transformed into a robot. The XO-laptop robot is named "Butiá".[33] The impact of the project on the quality of education is debated in the educational and development aid landscape.[34]

• (in Spanish) Web portal of the Ministry of Education