In the hills of the rural community of Ccochapata, Cusco in Peru, lies a small, isolated bilingual education center. Tomasa Ayllone is the sole teacher of the Centro Educativo Ccochapata and every day she faced approximately twelve children of varying ages from nearby indigenous communities, who walk long distances to school at dawn. They come to learn how to read and write in Quechua, their native tongue, and also to learn Spanish.

A World Bank project team visited this small school, in an effort to assess whether children in grades 1 and 2 were able to read a simple 60-word paragraph taken from a grade 1 language textbook, in under one minute. This innovative, rapid assessment was set up to measure pupil’s ability to read effectively according to a worldwide benchmark. Surprisingly, Ms. Ayllone and her pupils beat the odds, as most of Ccochapata’s pupils met the international standard, despite the disadvantaged conditions they endure on a daily basis.

The Independent Evaluation Group’s report “From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes – an Unfinished Agenda," emphasizes that reading is the foundation of all school learning. Ms. Ayllone takes great pride in being a teacher from a local village, and sees the benefits of her students learning how to read in their native tongue, Quechua, which will help them later to more easily learn the national language, Spanish. According to Ms. Ayllone, "We cannot demean the rural learning system – that its children can’t learn as effectively as in urban areas. I believe that any child, properly stimulated and motivated, can read 60 words per minute in the second grade, and even in first grade, if we as teachers put the extra effort required. My personal challenge is that I am now teaching four different grade levels at the same time."

Teachers like Ms. Ayllone excel in making a difference in the learning outcomes of their students. However, despite their positive example, IEG’s report notes that Peru’s teachers are paid among the lowest in the region relative to per capita income and compared to other public servants.

IEG recommends that educational systems worldwide and Bank projects need to prioritize in improving the learning outcomes of students, by establishing assessments that measure whether children are actually learning how to read properly. The evaluation also calls for stronger attention to the basic needs of teachers, like Tomasa Ayllone, so that they can effectively help students obtain the learning skills that will empower them to rise from conditions of poverty.

 

Abadzi, Helen. Efficient Learning for the Poor: Insights from the Frontier of Cognitive Neuroscience. The World Bank. Washington, DC, 2006. Pg. 47.

The World Bank Group video. Niños que leen bien, país que educa bien. 2005.