The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

A few educated Indians, descendants of the Inca nobility, have aided the government in its purpose by trying to teach their benighted people the meaning of freedom and to instil in them an appreciation of personal rights. Phoccohuanca, who bears the Christian name of Carlos Portilla, a pure Indian of Puno, has proved himself a worthy descendant of the great Manco-Ccapac by his ambition, energy, and loyalty to his race. His story is not unlike that of other self-made men. A thirst for knowledge made him leave his native town when a mere child to seek an education in the capital. From town to town he trudged, working at anything that offered him a chance to gain a few pennies out of which a little was always put aside for the purchase of books and for tuition. He was intelligent, hard-working, patient, and economical, and succeeded in getting together the requisite funds for his education, which was often interrupted by “hard times,” but was always kept in mind as the goal of his efforts. Now, at twenty-two years of age, he holds a teacher’s certificate, with recommendations from several well-known educators of Peru, testifying to his “aptitude, morality, and diligence”; as a preceptor in the correctional school for boys, in Lima, his work has been eminently satisfactory. Another Indian is the editor and proprietor of a newspaper called El Indio, which bears the subtitle of “Defender of the social interests of the native race.”

The new law governing primary education has already produced remarkable results. The number of schools has increased from one thousand four hundred and twenty-five under the support of the municipalities in 1905 to two thousand five hundred at present under the control of the central government; the staff of teachers that numbered one thousand six hundred and fifty-seven before the change of educational administration now comprises three thousand and twenty under state direction; and the pupils’ roll has swelled from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand names since the adoption of the new system two years ago. The educational fund has been so greatly increased that the government has not only been enabled to add to the number of schools and teachers, but also to improve salaries, to provide instruction for a greater number of pupils, to build and repair school-houses, acquire new and modern pedagogical materials, maintain normal institutes, including one for the instruction of teachers in manual training, and send teachers to the United States for normal school training.

The General Directorate of primary instruction has the management of all the various sections into which the system is divided, including those that relate to the teaching corps, school materials, statistics, accounts, etc., as well as to Departmental and Provincial inspectors. Under the new régime, the school extends a beneficent influence over all society, giving to the poorest child such training as will best prepare him for the struggle of life. The law provides for two grades of primary instruction, the first being the elementary school, in which are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, notions of geography and history in general and as related to Peru, rudimentary anatomy and physiology of the human body, the making of objects of common use, gymnastics, and, especially, the essential notions of morality and civic duty. This course covers two years, after which the pupil may enter the second grade, taught in what are known as school groups, or scholastic centres, where three years more are required to complete the primary education, including the learning of a trade. Free night schools for workmen are maintained by the Department of Fomento, and in addition to the public schools there are many private institutions throughout the republic for primary and secondary education.

The question of hygiene in the primary schools occupies the particular attention of the government, and a congress was recently held for the purpose of studying the best means of protecting the health of children, with a view to improving the general condition of the race, and making the rising generation robust and strong. In 1907, a system of sanitary and hygienic inspection was adopted for the schools of primary instruction, and the results, so far, have been most satisfactory.

Intermediate or secondary education has also received special attention during the present administration, new colleges having been established in several cities, in addition to commercial and industrial schools in Iquitos and Yurimaguas. Twenty-five government colleges provide secondary instruction, three of these being girls’ schools in Trujillo, Ayacucho, and Cuzco. Belgian and German professors have been engaged by the government to conduct the courses of study in the greater number of these schools. In the national colleges the pupil receives a general education, the law requiring four years’ study to complete this course. The graduate is then prepared either to leave school with sufficient knowledge to serve the ordinary purposes of a business career, or to enter the Faculty of Letters and Sciences in the University.

In every department of national education, the spirit of a broad and liberal government is to be seen, and even in the private schools and the colleges supported by benevolent institutions the influence of modern reform is general and unmistakable. The most notable tendency of education in Peru to-day is toward an increase of knowledge among the poorer classes. Under the traditional system of instruction, now passing away, the distinctions of caste were fostered and strengthened, because of the character and scope of the old-time school. The higher classes of society received more instruction than they applied in the course of their after lives, while the lower classes were neglected, or taught only so much as tended to impress on them their inferiority and the duties of submission. Under such a system it was inevitable that tyranny should flourish, and that the rich and governing class should abuse their power over the poor and ignorant. But with the patriotic ideas which have grown up and which now stimulate both the governing and the governed, the question of education has become one of the national requirements, and its benefits are enjoyed by all classes. It means the development of the middle class, which a great economist calls “the bulwark of a nation.”

THE COLLEGE OF LAW, LIMA.

ALAMEDA DE LOS DESCALZOS, LIMA.