The History Of Intercultural Education In Latin America

Intercultural Education in Latin America began in 1980s. Its primary objective was to focus on the impacts of intercultural education curriculum in promoting self-awareness and self-identity for indigenous populations through the concept of Intercultural Bilingual Education (Aikman, 1997). Many of these programs were established to counteract cultural assimilation polices in the Latin America’s educational systems and recognize the plurality of its nations. Peru was the first country in Latin America to promote Intercultural Bilingual Education. Later, Bolivia and Chile also developed Intercultural Education programs for indigenous populations (Aikman, 1997). Today in Latin America, intercultural education is still seen as vital method for

This was the Directorate of Bilingual Education, which is the impetus for promoting intercultural education programs in Latin America. In 1992, based on the efforts of the Directorate of Bilingual Education, a National Policy on Intercultural Education and Bilingual Education was approved by the Ministry of Education for five years (Aikman, 1997). This policy recognized Peru as a multi-ethnic, pluralistic society in which the state had an obligation to allow its citizens the opportunity to affirm themselves culturally and socially (Aikman, 1996). It also stated that the curriculum had to be diverse to support such understandings. Therefore, these policies legitimatized indigenous schooling that promoted the development of indigenous curriculum and intercultural pedagogical practices that developed in the late 1980s in the country (Aikman,

Although the national government developed intercultural education to foster diversity and equality, critics scrutinized the government’s initiative because the educational content sustained local hierarchies that promoted social realities of the Harakmbut community (Aikman, 2006). However, through the promotion of indigenous teacher training programs such policies are proving more successful in the region. In Bolivia, the revolution of 1952 was the first time in Bolivian history that the government granted every citizen the right to education. However, overwhelmingly the educational system perpetuated the language, knowledge, values, and history of the political elite in the region. Thus, the realities of the indigenous ethnic majority remained absent from educational curriculum (Drange, 2011). Thus, like in Peru, the educational system promoted a system of assimilation in order to civilize indigenous populations into what the government perceived as a monolithic