UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

09/16/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/16/2024 07:41

How the UNESCO Peru Horizons Programme is transforming rural education in Cusco

UNESCO Peru, in collaboration with the Peruvian state, has committed to improving levels of prosperity, equality, and equity within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular emphasis on transforming rural education. The Rural Secondary Education Programme, Horizons, embodies this ideal by being implemented in 45 schools across seven regions of the country - Amazonas, Ayacucho, Arequipa, Cusco, Piura, Puno, and Lima - benefiting a total of 6,667 students aged 12 to 19 living in various rural areas.

The objective of the Programme is "to help adolescents in rural areas of Peru complete their secondary education with a life project based on the development of comprehensive skills, allowing them to improve their civic and productive inclusion in their communities. Even if these students decide to migrate, they will remain connected to their community without losing their local and cultural identity," emphasises Martín Vegas, Coordinator of the UNESCO Peru Horizons Programme.

Horizons began its intervention in the Cusco region in 2020 with four rural secondary schools in the Quispicanchi UGELarea, followed in 2021 by four schools in the Acomayo UGEL. In both territories, most secondary schools are in rural areas.

The Programme, together with the UGELs of Quispicanchi and Acomayo and the managers and teachers of the selected schools, has implemented an educational approach that promotes the life projects of adolescents. It does so through a set of socio-emotional skills, the development of technical skills for dual certification, and the assurance of safe and healthy educational environments.

Achievements in 4 Years of Work

After four years of work in the Cusco region, the Horizons Programme and UNESCO Peru have made significant progress in Rural Secondary Education:

  • An annual average of 79 teachers and 9 managers from eight schools strengthened their capacity to develop educational and management processes with the Horizons approach in the areas of Socio-emotional Skills, Protection, and Technical Training for dual certification.
  • In 2023, a total of 131 students completed secondary school with their life projects formulated and socio-emotional skills developed. In 2024, 139 students will graduate from secondary school with these life tools.
  • 714 students achieved dual certification upon completing secondary education, enabling them to gain decent employment, start their own business, or pursue higher education.
  • The school dropout rate was significantly reduced, by up to three percentage points on average, in each of the targeted schools by the Programme.
  • The areas of Socio-emotional Skills, Protection, and Technical Training are incorporated into the management instruments of the eight secondary schools (Institutional Educational Project, Educational Institution Curriculum Project, Internal Regulations, and Annual Work Plan) and reflect the governance work carried out in them under the leadership of their directors and teachers.
  • Efforts have been made to incorporate the strategic areas for developing Socio-emotional Skills, Technical Training, and Protection into the Regional Educational Project - PER Cusco by 2036.

Additionally, the Horizons Programmehas consolidated its integrated educational approach to developing students' Life Projects, established the pathway to implementing dual certification mobility processes with CETPROs, and modelled strategies for generating synergies with local government levels, DEMUNA, CEM, non-governmental organisations, and businesses from school management. The UGELs of Quispicanchi and Acomayo were responsible for incorporating the proposal into their management instruments, which allowed them to apply it to other secondary schools.

UNESCO

New Horizons

UNESCO Peru is passing on the leadership of the Horizons Programme to its local partners. In Cusco, the UGELs of Acomayo and Quispicanchi are responsible for ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the Programme's strategic areas in the targeted schools and for scaling up the educational approach to other schools. To this end, they have created their initiatives, such as projects and resource mobilisation, which have expanded the number of schools implementing the Horizons proposal.

Other UGELs in the Cusco region have expressed interest in implementing some of the strategic areas of the Horizons Programme, with the support of the Regional Directorate of Education of Cusco, as they have identified the potential of the Programme's proposal. This will undoubtedly be an increasing demand, already being addressed through a technical assistance programme that will result in the formulation of their rural secondary transformation plans, which should be completed by the end of this year.

The commitment of school leaders is a key factor in maintaining the progress achieved. The beneficiary schools are now a source of inspiration for others, as they show the integrated proposal in the actions of school management and governance, with new Horizons.

*Article published in the Qosqo Times Weekly, page 9