Boletín sobre políticas públicas sobre infancia en el Perú [Abril 2012]

This paper examines the policy of Intercultural Bilingual Education (abbreviated to EIB in Spanish), a policy intended to give indigenous children in Peru access to education relevant to their linguistic and cultural background.
However, there are not enough EIB schools in Peru for all children who speak an indigenous language, and the facilities are such that they do not offer the children the opportunity to learn enough skills in their own language. Children are only offered the opportunity to learn two languages – Spanish and their mother tongue – rather they use the latter almost exclusively to make sure the children learn Spanish.
This policy brief discusses this devaluation of indigenous languages and the implications for children and the school system in Peru.