Education in Peru

Academic Year

The academic year in most parts of the United States runs from August or early September until late May or early June. In the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are reversed. The academic year in Peru begins in March and ends in December. The summer months in Peru are January, February and March.

While some areas of Peru have an “escuela inicial”, which is similar to kindergarden in the U. S., most of the Peruvian school system is comprised of a six-year primary school, followed by a five-year secondary school. Many students who wish to continue their studies after high school must first attend an “academia” in order to prepare themselves for university studies.

Language

In the highlands of Peru, many students come from families that do not speak Spanish. Rather, they speak Qechua or Aymara, which are languages from the Inca empire.

Since classes are conducted in Spanish, in many cases the students must become bilingual in order to study. Many of the poorest areas of Peru have a very high illiteracy rate.

Some students come from families where their parents are illiterate or do not understand Spanish. Younger students must turn to older students to help them with their homework or to help them to practice writing, as their parents are not able to assist with these tasks.

Classroom Buildings

Many rural schools in Peru are in one-room school houses, where all the different grade levels are mixed together under the instruction of a single teacher. In many remote locations, the teacher lives in the back of the school in a makeshift type of apartment. Often, because of distance, teachers who are assigned to very remote rural schools only return to their homes and families during school vacations and summer recess periods.

In some areas of Peru, because of a shortage of classroom space, students attend classes in shifts. The morning classes run from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The afternoon classes go from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The night shift runs from 6 p.m. to 9 or 10 p.m.

Students who, because of poverty, must work in the day can and do attend the shortened night school classes to continue their studies.

Some Catholic schools have shifts in which the more prosperous tuition-paying students attend day classes and the poorer students attend free classes in the afternoon and evening.

Religion

Another difference between the education system of the U.S. and that of Peru is that religion classes are offered in Peruvian public schools. Often religious sisters or priests teach religion classes at public schools. The beliefs and doctrines of the Catholic Church are taught in all schools in Peru, whether they be public or Church-sponsored. The Peruvian government pays salaries of teachers in Church-sponsored schools, also.

Food

Most schools in Peru do not provide a hot lunch program for students. When classes end for the day, students are expected to return to their homes to eat.

At recess in many schools, local women come into the playground area and offer snack food for sale to the recreating students. Some types of common snack food items are corn on the cob, sweet rolls, popcorn and bananas. Less healthy potato chips and candy are also available. The students eat their snacks on the playground, as most schools in Peru are not equipped with a lunch room.

Augustinians

The Augustinians in Peru assist Peruvian children in a myriad of ways. The Heart-to-Heart project collects funds from school children in the U.S. and uses those funds to buy required school supplies which are given to poor students in Peru.

One Augustinian parish in Peru built a small library/study room where students who come from homes without electricity can go in the late afternoon or evening to study in a building with desks, reference books and lights.

Several Augustinians have taught in Peruvian schools. The Augustinian Vicariate of San Juan de Sahagún (Chulucanas) recently assumed responsibility for a school in Pacasmayo.