Bilingual Intercultural Education in Peru : Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract: Offering basic education is the greatest investment the world can make in its future. Basic education improves live opportunity for people and also give them a chance to form a better life for them selves. Too many of Peru’s inhabitants live in extreme poverty and education could help the country improve this situation. In addition, in the rural areas of Peru a lot of people speak another language than Spanish as their mother tongue. The purpose of this thesis is to get a more profound knowledge about matters concerning Bilingual Intercultural Education in Peru. The research question has been what issues can be found, involving EBI education in Peru; opportunities and challenges? I have researched this through interviews with people working in the rural areas combined with a literature study. I visited schools in the area of Cusco and Anchonga. In Cusco the school did not have EBI education and in Anchonga the visited school did have. Some of the findings made are that it is important for the people involved such as parents, principals and teachers to be supportive of EBI education to make it work. It is also a challenge to find teachers who know the method and are bilingual. Many schools are in addition dependent of support from non-governmental organizations, which are an opportunity and a challenge. Important is also to make some teachers and parents believe that EBI education is not against the social development of the country.