School in Peru

In Peru, children start school at the age of six. They go to primary school up to 6th grade. The secondary school comprises five school years. After a further two school years, the Abitur can be taken, which then entitles to study.

State schools are free. However, more affluent families send their children to private schools, as these are better equipped and the teaching is of a higher quality. But the visit costs money.

There is compulsory education. 95 percent of the children go to school. That is a high number, but 5 percent of children do not go to school. Only 78 percent attend secondary school. Going to school is sometimes difficult, especially in rural areas, because there are too few schools.

All children wear a school uniform. The lessons are in Spanish. Children who have learned Aymara, Asháninka or Quechua from their parents often have to learn Spanish with great effort. Most schools give grades from 0 to 20. You need at least an 11 to pass. On average you need at least 11 to be transferred.

In many schools the school day begins with the morning roll call, for which all children gather in the school yard. The national anthem of Peru is also sung at the beginning of the week. School starts around 8 a.m. There is a break after three school hours.

From the island to school

Some children go to school under special circumstances. This definitely applies to the children of the Urus. They live on floating islands in Lake Titicaca. Her school is also on an island. But they have to get there first. Some children have to take the boat for two hours before they can go to school! They row to school all alone or with siblings or neighboring children, just like 11-year-old Vidal or 9-year-old Mariella.

Peru – a poor country

As a country located in South America according to remzfamily, Peru is a poor country. A quarter of the population is considered poor. 4 percent of the population even lives in extreme poverty. The proportion is much higher among the Indians and in the countryside. In Lima, however, there are also large slums that have arisen on the outskirts of the city. In poor families, the children do not get enough to eat. Your development remains behind. If the child becomes ill, the families cannot afford a doctor or medication. But poverty also means that children are forced to work.

Street children in Peru

There are also many children who live on the streets. Some children run away because they are beaten at home, others hope to escape poverty in this way. But of course that’s not true. Street children have to work, they beg, they take drugs and many are sick. In Lima alone 20,000 children are said to live on the streets.

Child labor

34 percent of children in Peru between the ages of 5 and 14 work (31 percent of boys and 36 percent of girls). That is very, very much! Some children work before and after school, others don’t go to school at all and work all day.

Some sell fruit in the market, others help with the harvest of rice, sugar cane, cotton or coffee. Peru is the largest growing area for coca plants, on whose plantations children are also used. Boys fish, girls slave labor for wealthy families. In the cities they clean shoes or wash cars. They also work in gold mines and brick factories.

Children’s names in Peru

Boys in Peru are often called Luis, Alberto, Edgar, Martín, Alejandro, Jorge or Daniel. The “j” in Alejandro is spoken like the “ch” in Dach. Common girls’ names are Elisabeth, Rosa, Carmen, María, Patricia, Daniela and Adriana. Spanish surnames such as Flores, Sánchez, Rodríguez, or García are the most common. But there are also names from the Quechua language such as Quispe and Huamán. The name Mamani comes from the Aymara. Each child is given two surnames: that of the father and that of the mother. Two are also often chosen for the first names.