By Carmen Hurtado Mena
Education is not only essential to groom the personality of any individual, but a prerequisite for the socio-economic development of a country. From this perspective, governments play the most important role after parents’ efforts to provide children with an upright and worthy education. In recent times the teaching of English has gained significance in the curricula in our educational system. We may wonder if we are on the right track.
In our country, President Ollanta Humala Tasso has outlined a plan in which a bilingual education scheme attempts to improve EFL teaching and the educational system at all levels in both public schools and the Peruvian armed forces. He maintains: “We need competent and skillful people. This is a task to be worked together by the central government, private institutions, and the mass communication media. We need schools to assume the challenge of innovation;” which reflects the shifts made so far in the school curricula.
It is known that the Administration has made substantial investments in teacher training, as well as dished out scholarships to educators for studying abroad, something which has led a number of English teachers to close ranks around this initiative. However, greater requirements lie ahead in order to accomplish his goal. To just add up more classroom hours to teach subject matters such as Math, Science, P.E, and Language Arts in public schools starting next year will not guarantee success in this expedition. We know that without competent teachers we will not be able to either upgrade the educational system or improve the quality of schooling. In this regard, the series of educational reforms announced in the public sector have not yet made any substantial impact, and it might be argued that the executive has found in teaching EFL a good argument to persuade the public that the educational service in fact works.
Some questions then come up: What has triggered the quick growth of EFL-teaching at private schools in our country? What is the point of urging all kids to learn English? Are most private schools offering brilliant EFL teaching in comparison to public schools? What distinguishes public schools in our country? Is it the number of students and infrastructure, or the instruction? Beside public schools there are private, self-financed day schools, cooperatively managed; schools operated by the Catholic Church, and schools run by other religious organizations.
The rich assorted population of our country showcases a wide-ranging group of people. The 20th century has been characterized by immigration, which has made investors to attain an increased interest in our country. English has become the key language of investors, and people see an opportunity to get job openings. In addition, the tuition free and compulsory public basic education system comprises pre-school, primary, and secondary levels. The question is, then, has the last variant in the curricula been made properly, or should it have been organized training teachers as a first s
tep? Will we really have the eligible qualified teachers to cope with the government expectations and demands by the 2017?
How is English being taught in your school?
Is there any data that shows the achievements in learning English at schools in the last decades?
References:
https://ei.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/latin-america-research/English%20in%20Peru.pdf
http://wenr.wes.org/2015/04/education-in-peru/
Bio Data
Carmen Hurtado, graduated in the educational field; she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Science, and the title of Lic. en Educación by Universidad Nacional de Educación. She has also finished her master’s studies in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Universidad de Piura, and taken some specializations in the EFL and Spanish fields. She has taught English and Spanish for over 20 years. She currently works teaching fully online courses. A lecturer in the late Annual Congresses at CIDUP, she works as a Pedagogical Teacher Trainer and is a member of the Research Area at Universidad del Pacifico Language Center.
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