Minister of Education: “The state of the education system that we found is a shame”

Minister of education, Oscar Becerra, assured that his sector is prepared for the start of the school year scheduled for March 13, despite the large infrastructure gaps that exist at the national level. According to him, one of the big problems is the lack of drinking water and sanitation in educational centers throughout the country.

“We are working hard to get everything ready for that day. 1041 schools are in danger of collapse (…) Imagine Ukraine, and it falls short, we have a gap of 152 billion soles, and it grew by 10% in one year (…) The situation in which we found the national education system is post-war position, it’s a disgrace,” he said.

In an interview program no turns RPP Noticias, owner Minedu He estimates that around 700,000 children have left public school classrooms in Peru during the pandemic, according to data from his sector. He added that in Lima alone, 60,000 children and teenagers cannot find a place “because the capacity of the public school has been exceeded.”

calf He pointed out emphatically that for those 60,000 children and teenagers who plan to resume education, “there is no preparation” because “60 schools with 1,000 students cannot be built in four weeks.” In the midst of this scenario, he indicated that efforts would only be focused on strengthening the 1,041 schools that were in danger of collapse.

“We will make sure that the children and youth who return to their classrooms are not threatened by the roof that has fallen on them. We have a budget and we work with Ministry of Economics additional budget to respond to this emergency, because no one was ready for this,” he said.

“The situation of schools is deplorable”

Earlier, Minister Becerra said his leadership found the educational infrastructure catastrophic due to successive governments abandoning it, with more than 50% of schools in very poor condition.

“In fact, the situation is catastrophic, since there was a complete failure to such an extent that the gap in the educational infrastructure has widened and reaches 152,447 million somoni by December 2022,” Becerra said.

The Minister indicated that 1041 schools were in imminent danger of collapse and that Ministry of Education they are already working on getting them up and running on March 13 when the school year starts.

He also pointed out that Minedu He will take urgent action to rebuild these schools, for which he has requested the support of the Comptroller’s Office so that the process can be carried out without corruption.

Becerra said that out of 55,304 public educational institutions in the country, 30,418, i.e. 55%, are in poor condition and coordinated work with regional governments and mayors is required to change this serious situation.

He also said that 4971 schools, accounting for 9% of the total, need partial replacement, and another 5823 schools, accounting for 10.5% of the total, require strengthening.

“Instead of x-raying the educational infrastructure, we would have to do an autopsy. We cannot hide this unfortunate situation, which is the result of the negligence of successive governments. The most annoying thing is that the previous government only opened a school in a year and a half of government. Apparently, he was not interested in education,” he said.

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