56 leading teachers in rural education honoured

Region: Piura | Emilio Espinoza High School (Canchaque)

Amalia Morocho was born in the highlands of Piura, exactly in Ayabaca, where she grew up and was formed as a sister of the congregation of San José de Tarbes. Today, she leads this community of religious sisters who work as guides and educators in the I.E. Emilio Espinoza located in the district of Canchaque - Alto Piura.

As Amalia says: "The call of our congregation implies dedicating our lives to the service of rural education as ministers of education".

This mystique as an educator has allowed Amalia to train generations of rural youth who, as she proudly points out, have achieved what they dreamed of, with their identity, with their values, with gratitude in their hearts and with a mission to contribute even more to their community.

She strongly believes that rural education is key to the development of communities; by shaping the trajectory of each person, it can have a significant impact on the advancement of the country.

During her work with UNESCO Peru's Horizontes rural secondary programme, Amalia has promoted the articulation of the school with families to educate adolescents together both inside and outside the classroom.

She says that "the platforms generated by UNESCO provide a place for rural educators and students to share their contributions, culture and living heritage with each other in order to generate learning opportunities and social development".

Region: Cusco | Javier Perez de Cuéllar High School (Quispicanchi)

In the district of Quiquijana, located two hours south of the city of Cusco, Rolando Lizaraso leads with professionalism and creativity the implementation of the Technical Training Area of the rural secondary school Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, where he teaches ceramics, welding, textile crafts and dressmaking, integrating his knowledge of design and iconography from the Quechua culture of the Cusco region, where he grew up.

These are activities that Rolando develops through learning projects that allow adolescents an active education, based on solving real problems in their community in order to put into practice their creativity and socio-emotional skills.

This work takes place under the proposal for the renovation of rural secondary schools of UNESCO's Horizons Programme in Peru. His creativity and dedication have earned him the opportunity to represent Peru at the Congress of the Latin American Centre for Solidarity Service Learning-CLAYSS held in Argentina in 2022.

Rolando always thought that being a teacher was his professional calling. For him, being a rural teacher is the noblest job and the role from which he can directly address the needs of rural youth.

Motivating through art, creativity and training for employment and entrepreneurship are the three lessons of rural school transformation that inspire this teacher leader and protagonist.

Region: Ayacucho | Nuestra Señora de Asuncion High School (Sarhua)

Elizabeth Canchari's story takes us to Sarhua, in Ayacucho, where she welcomes us wearing her hat with the characteristic embroidery of the Ayacucho community. After a long journey, and with a lot of leadership, she took over the direction of the secondary school Nuestra Señora de Asunción, where her commitment to integrate the knowledge of her community, the Sarhuina identity and the traditions of her land in the learning that is taught in class stands out.

With the support of the Horizons Programme, this rural school in Ayacucho has successfully implemented an innovative Education for Work workshop that links technical training with the popular art of Sarhua boards, Andean embroidery, literature, singing and history. This allows the students of the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción school to graduate with an integral Andean worldview and the creative capacity to pursue their life projects with a broad representation of their roots in everything they undertake.

Elizabeth Canchari's dream of becoming the headmistress of the Sarhua school and a leading teacher in intercultural education began many years ago in Lima, where she migrated with her family when she was very young. This was the fate of so many other Ayacucho families during the time of terrorism and internal armed conflict. Fortunately, her Sarhua identity was always there as she grew up in a community of families who settled in the city, but kept alive their Quechua language and closeness to their culture.

Her great link to Sarhua was also her grandmother, who lovingly taught her about the customs, awakening in her her first interest in teaching others. Elizabeth recalls that "as a young student, I watched my teachers and thought about the possibility of being the one who would lovingly accompany other children and adolescents to learn in the future".

So Elizabeth embarked on a mission that seemed far away: to apply to university and study education. She painstakingly applied to the University of San Marcos and got in; however, being the first person in her family to enter the university and not being clear about what happened after the exam, she failed to confirm her enrolment in time and lost her place.

Elizabeth applied again. This time to the National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle - La Cantuta, where she managed to train and specialise in intercultural bilingual education.

She tells us: "When I finished my studies, I'm sure many people thought that I would seek a career in the city; however, I didn't feel that I belonged. My roots were far away, in Sarhua, so I decided to return to be a teacher in the land we had left so many years ago. Many friends and family asked me why I was coming back, when many wanted to come to the city. For my part, I had no doubt that this was my place, my centre, I chose to be a rural teacher.

This contagious passion allows Elizabeth's students to integrate their identity with the formal knowledge of the curriculum and turn it into pieces of expression in the technique of the Sarhua boards, an intangible heritage recognised by UNESCO.

Region: Amazonas | Moises Moreno Moreno High School (Condorcanqui)

Colleagues who know Franklin are quick to point out that he has shown exceptional leadership in integrating technical education into the Horizons programme. Through his management, he has ensured that the programme's guidelines are successfully implemented, benefiting the entire educational community.

With the support of Horizontes, the Moisés Moreno Franklin Secondary School has managed to re-establish its Education for Work with Technical Training, training and certifying students in the specialities of fish farming, small animal husbandry and vegetable gardening. This has allowed the adolescents of Amazonas to develop technical knowledge while at the same time addressing their food security with a sustainable approach in a rural context.

Within the framework of the Horizons programme, Franklin implemented an educational radio project in the Awajún language called 'Datsa Chicame', which allows the students to have programmes designed and conducted by themselves on a community radio station where they learn to express themselves in public and give their opinion without fear, while strengthening their identity and keeping alive this native language of the Amazon.

This training and the certificates they obtain are an opportunity to motivate the graduates to continue studying, as they can even be used to enter the labour market, which is why the school is committed to ensuring real and meaningful training experiences.

Region: Puno | Simon Bolivar High School (Sandia)

Jeanet Chise feels a little short-changed when her students call her a teacher. She is a psychologist by profession, and she knew that her role at Simon Bolivar Secondary School would involve guiding 400 adolescents in an institution with many social challenges. However, she did not imagine that this mission would become a bond with each young person and would lead her to take on the role of accompanying and developing their future together with them.

She tells us that for her, education "is the work of ants from various actors. At the end of the day, it is a matter of laying the foundations for students to realise their dreams and goals. The ones they want for themselves and the ones they can generate so that, from their talents, they can bring development here to their land.

Janet is clear about the impact and transformative role that a teacher or an educational accompanier can have. This motivates her to work, despite being away from her family during the week due to her rural location. She does her best to look for more opportunities to develop socio-emotional learning in secondary school based on the great potential that identifies the adolescents of Simón Bolivar: leadership, cooperation and teamwork.

"I could stay in my role, in my office, saying there are 400 students, how much can be done, but there is so much that can be done! This reflection motivated her to generate an innovation project, together with students and teachers of the institution, to create educational spaces called "Umbrellas of Joy". This is an area in the school playgrounds where students can feel, express and manage their emotions in contact with their classmates and nature.