Our morning session introduced the foundations of the Peruvian education system. It is divided into pre-K/kindergarten, who attend 25 hours a week; primary school, who attend six hours a day; and secondary school, who attend seven hours a day, including one hour of tutoring. They receive two hours of English instruction a week. Education has reached 70% of the school-age population. In 2020, when the pandemic forced schools into remote instruction, 72% of students in the capital Lima had internet access; 42% in the rest of the country had internet access. Uniforms are not mandatory, but there is peer pressure to wear them.
Lunch was at Panchita, one of Peruvian super chef Gaston Acurio's restaurants. It specializes in grilled meats served with vegetables, rice and potatoes. In the afternoon, we visited the American embassy, where we surrendered our phones at the first checkpoint and our passports at the next one. We were given tags that read "escort required" and were escorted into a meeting room. A security officer briefed us on staying safe in a city where 4,000 phones are snatched each day from people on the street and in cars by thieves on bikes or motorcycles. They also warned us to stay away from ayahuasca, the hallucinogenic drink that was originally used for spiritual purposes by Amazonian tribes and is now making the tourist rounds. We also had a roundtable discussion with principals from various schools in Lima. An interpreter facilitated the discussion, as only a few of us are fluent in Spanish and the principals were not fluent in English. We found we shared many of the same challenges in educating students but agreed to continue the conversation digitally and through a pen pal exchange.
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Karen CusolitoI am a National Board Certified Teacher of English at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. I also advise the student newspaper, which is an elective class. When I am not teaching, you can find me traveling, hiking with my dog, or doing yoga. Guiding Questions:
How common is it for girls in Peru to attend universities? How does their rate compare to boys? How has the rate of university attendance changed over the years? Archives
July 2022
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