Starting Out in Peru

One of the projects that got me started on this career path was in Peru, several years ago. I will not name the organisation, though I thought the programme was great, and I would use the model. It was working with accelerated learning programmes, although we didn’t call them that, we called them schools.

In accelerated learning programmes (ALPs), older students cover the same educational ground as the standard-age learners, but at a faster and more intensive pace. This helps overcome the high levels of illiteracy among children affected by conflict, and boosts their chances of personal and professional development. ALPs enable students to study in a way and at a level appropriate to their ability and age. The curriculum is condensed, so they can get through it in half the number of years normally required for primary school, or less. They can study additional material suitable for their age and where they live. By catching up in this way, learners can then integrate into mainstream primary education (in the right class for their age) or transfer to secondary school or to skills-based technical and vocational education (Save the Children, 2010).

Primary education in Peru is free, but with the cost of uniforms, books, and the demands on children to work, either outside the home, or staying home to mind younger siblings; many children were out of school. The NGO would go to a public school and persuade them to give the use of a classroom; if this wasn’t possible the NGO would construct a simple building with the help of volunteers from the community. Then a social worker would canvas the poorest adjacent areas, going from door to door and explaining that children to come to this school to study, that pencils and books would be provided, as well as a small snack to eat, and that the children need not wear uniforms, and that any age between five and sixteen was welcome. The areas the students came from were mostly favela-like shanty towns, known in Peru as invasiones, with shacks built up with no running water, power, or proper sanitation. Many of the children who came had never been in a classroom
setting before,

and could not read or write at all. Some had dropped out of school, and were far behind their peers. Many of the children came initially only because we offered something to eat, but having begun studying, found the confidence to continue. The goal of the programme was that, after a year in our schools, the children would be ready to enter into the age-appropriate grade in public school, and the organisation would help with buying the uniform. The mixture of ages and abilities did not make for an easy classroom environment, and the teacher was helped by classroom assistants. This project was repeated in multiple locations throughout Peru. I was the director of the programme in its start-up stage in Chimbote, and this is something of which I am proud.