The Indigenous Teacher Training Program of the National University of the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

Since 1985, the National University of the Peruvian Amazon (UNAP) in Iquitos has maintained a Bilingual Education Program aimed at training Indigenous teachers, based on the conviction that such programs should be the responsibility of the State rather than foreign agencies, as is the case with other bilingual programs in the country.

The authors, who are professors at UNAP’s School of Bilingual Education, explain the educational system adopted by the program: correspondence courses (distance education), which prevent students from becoming uprooted from their communities of origin. The authors examine the results obtained during the program’s first years and describe its prospects for future development.