Peru declares emergency in public education, with empty classrooms since 2019

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Peruvian government this Friday (20) declared an emergency in public education in order to implement a number of urgent measures to raise its quality and expedite a return to in-person classes, after a year and a half of distance learning.

A campaign pledge of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, the measure will be in force for one year, until the second semester of the 2022 school year, due to “the significant loss of learning and the impact on the socio-emotional situation of students,” according to the decree published in the El Peruano official gazette.

The declaration of emergency sets a term of 20 days for the Ministry of Education to approve an “Educational Emergency Plan” with the measures to be adopted over the next 12 months.

RECOVERING WHAT HAS BEEN LOST

The main goal is to “consolidate and improve the learning of students in basic, higher and technical education.”

To this end, “innovation and educational solutions in response to the diversity of Peru’s territories and the closing of inequity gaps” will be promoted.

This will be structured through 6 areas, starting with the recovery and consolidation of learning for students in basic education and the gradual, flexible, safe and voluntary return to in-person attendance.

These are followed by the professional development of teachers, technological innovation and educational competitiveness, the promotion of hybrid learning in higher education, decentralization and comprehensive attention to rural, indigenous, Afro-Peruvian and disabled populations.

On Saturday, a demonstration of students’ parents has been called to demand the immediate return to in-person classes.

NO IN-PERSON CLASSES SINCE 2019

The vast majority of primary and secondary students and all university students have been without in-person classes since December 2019, when the confinement due to Covid-19 began as students were preparing to start the 2020 school year.

In-person classes were only resumed in some rural schools as of April 2021, under protocols that are difficult to comply with in large cities, where the number of students per classroom is much higher.

The vast majority of schools nationwide remain closed while other activities such as cinemas, theaters and gyms have reopened.

Within the vaccination process, teachers were not considered a priority group and students are not expected to be vaccinated until at least the end of this year.