Published papers

Since the 1980s, the policy of decentralization in education has been implemented in many Latin-American countries. Peru focused on decentralization before then, but it was not considered an educational reform as in other countries. Peruvian decentralization focuses on the participation of the local people similar to other countries, but does more in making educational plans of each decentralized authorities. The policies of decentralization in education coexisted in the frameworks of the General Law of Education and the Pilot Plan of Municipalization. In the General Law of Education in 2003, there are four levels of decentralized authorities: Ministry of Education, Authorities of Regional Education (DRE), Local Educational Units (UGEL), and schools. On the other hand, in the framework of the Pilot Plan of Municipalization implemented by the former President Alan Garcia in 2006, municipalities were the main authorities of decentralization. In many cases, there was confusion regarding the competences between municipalities and UGELs and DREs. Although the capacity of local authorities to implement the policy of decentralization is generally doubted, and the policy lacks consistency, decentralization itself is considered necessary to break the traditional centralization of educational policy.

In Peru, some public schools are run by the private sector, especially by religious organizations. Students in this type of school accounted for about 1.3% of all students in 2005. With subsidies for teachers' salaries, the private sector, especially the Catholic Church including religious congregations, have established schools for poor children mainly in marginalized areas of the city. Compared with similar types of schools in Chile and Venezuela, privately run Peruvian public schools have kept a traditional pattern of Public-Private Partnerships. Because there was no reform or unified regulation about these schools, each school has been regulated by respective relationships with educational authorities. Privately run public schools in Peru are characterized by financial support from religious congregations or other private entities, active participation of parents in the school for voluntary work, and the selection, supervision, evaluation, and training of teachers by a principal or the organization to which they belong. Privately run public schools have stimulated the Ministry of Education and schools around them by offering free education of good quality for poor children.

This paper explores the politics of child labour and compulsory education in Mexico and Peru. highlighting the trajectories of compulsory education and the worldwide childrights movements. Mexico and Peru are selected as they have contrasting child labour policies despite the similarities in geography and child labour profiles. While Mexico extended compulsory education starting the age of three, and the government has been strongly encouraging children's human rights, the country has not yet ratified the ILO's Minimum Age Convention 138, which forbids labour for children less than 15 years of age. Lenient standards for child labour result partially from disseminated cultural traditions that children's work is beneficial for their personal and social development. Peru ratified the Minimum Age Convention 138 in 2002, yet the concept of protagonismo, the capacity to participate in society and transform it forcibly remains. Major advocates are the local NGOs and working children who argue that children should be perceived as independent individuals who can judge and design their own lives, including continuation of work. The paper concludes that child labour and education policies are complex and that examining the relationship between compulsory education and child labour requires in-depth cultural analysis as well as policy analysis.

In the 1990s, many Latin American countries reformed their policies of education, and in the process they also changed their education laws. Although Peru had been suff ering from an economic crisis since the 1980s and also needed education reform, the Peruvian General Law of Education (LGE) was unchanged until 2003. During the administration of President Alberto Fujimori, they lacked long-term policies on education. Therefore some educational professionals formed a non-governmental group, Foro Educativo, and developed some key proposals to improve education. These professionals had also been participating in the formation of educational policies under the Fujimori administration, but their participation in the formation process of such policies increased after his administration ended. In 2002, the Toledo Administration published the National Accord of national policy, and it contained long-term educational goals. The LGE of 2003 has succeeded these suggestions of policies since the 1990s. The new LGE emphasizes the equity of society, and to achieve it a reorganization of the educational system and decentralization are intended. The equity of society is diffi cult to achieve; however, through the formation and implementation of the new LGE, Peruvian education has developed a system to make an educational strategy that is better than the previous one.