User:Rachelswimmer/Education in peru

Quality of Education

In 2009, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam found that Peru finished last out of nine Latin American countries that participated in the study. Despite Peru having high rates of enrollment and graduation, students who graduated were shown to lack 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. By 2018, the project has created and implemented four national assessments that gather student data to analyze learning development, performance evaluations for teachers that led to merit-based promotions (19,069 teachers were hired and 49,763 teachers were promoted as a result), and lastly evaluations of school leadership to ensure quality education.

Education in Pre Inca Cultures

Challenges in the Peruvian Education System

Beginning in the 1980s, peruvian families began seeking out private education for their children. Since private schools are solely located in urban areas, this often meant a migration toward city centres. In 1996 a new law was passed that encouraged investment in private education and offered lucrative tax benefits to investors. The surge of money into the private education market heightened the demand for private schooling. Private education transformed from a luxury for the elite to an option for the emerging middle class and even poor families. The expanded access to private education has increased educational inequalities in more ways than one. Not only are the majority of poor families excluded from this new private educational market, but also to poorer urban children. As the demand for private education increased, and more families migrated to urban areas, private schools began to apply restrictions to who would receive attendance to their school. Some of the criteria was giving priority to children with siblings or to children whose parents had shown an interest in their education. However, more often than not, priority was given to children whose families donated money to the school. Corruption and bribery have become markers of the Peruvian education system due to a lack of government regulation.

A private education is not an option for many poor children in Peru. However, even a public education is not entirely attainable. Rural students have a higher likelihood of temporarily or permanently dropping out of school to find work, usually in hazardous mining or constructuction sites, to provide for their families. Some children may need to travel three hours to get to school, some even have to walk eight hours a day. The same is true for teachers, and the long commute often causes a delay in class. Once class has begun, teachers are often overwhelmed by their large class size. Classes are often packed with around forty-five students, which diminishes the quality of learning that the teacher can provide. The low wages teachers are offered, the worst than any other country in Latin America, alongside overpopulated classrooms and a lack of government support creates unmotivated and distressed teachers. On the other side of the educational spectrum lay private schools with their high paid teachers, small classrooms, soccer fields, swimming pools, and theatres. The disregard of public schools by the government is largely apparent in these egregious disparities.