HOPE THROUGH
EDUCATION
Even with the COVID-19 crisis, we strive to connect with public schools around Peru and empower students to explore STEM and the creative arts.
By working with rural areas outside of Cusco, Evolution Hope plans to help bring school materials to each child's home, encouraging students to learn even with an ongoing pandemic. Even though these kids may have access to a school system, they often don’t have the opportunity to learn more complex subjects.
Education in Peru began back in the 16th century. It was started by the Spanish Ruling class, and Lima was the center of it all until the 1821s, a duration where a war of independence caused education to spread to a larger part of the population.
As new schools were created, the Ministry of Education decided to take full administration for any university in Peru. At this time, many of Peru’s cities had built successful schools, but the rural areas struggled; the children in these areas often never learned any arithmetic, reading or writing.
In the 1960s, the government passed a law that allowed any community to create its own schoolhouse, and, in turn, they would be guaranteed a teacher by the government. This helped expand literacy and opportunity to the students in the more rural areas, but these communities still struggled to find funding to build a school.
In 1 996, the government of Peru addressed these concerns by passing the educación básica y técnico productiva reforms, which extended free education to all students between 5 and 16.
History of Peru's Education System
Peru's Modern Education System
Even with these reforms and laws in place, Peru is one of the worst performing countries in education. However, it is making continual progress in its universal basic education. There are upward trends with enrollment rates in both females and males, and the literacy rate is a little over 98 percent. Nevertheless, due to poor infrastructure, inadequate learning materials, and lack of curriculum, students still fall behind.
Here is a breakdown of the data behind Peru’s School System:
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Two Tiers:
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Primary school (6 years) and secondary school (5 years)
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Peru only dedicated 3.8% of their GDP to education
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To put this into perspective, the United States dedicated 6.2% of their GDP– that's almost double the amount
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Ranked 125/137 for math and sciences by the World Economic Forum
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Language barriers
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Spanish-Speaking students are 2 times as likely to complete basic education than students whose maternal language is indigenous
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