Over the past few decades, Peru has shown significant increases in enrolment in basic education, which continues to rise. However, on average educational performance, while increasing, is still low (compared to national or international benchmarks). Furthermore, there are significant gaps in achievement between groups of students, that seem to remain stable or even increase over time (for example urban over rural). In this chapter we present evidence to show that there is a strong association among the individual and family characteristics of students, their educational opportunities at school, and the outcomes of their education, so that they reinforce one another. Thus the challenge for the educational system in Peru is to break this perverse triangle, so that the average outcomes will increase at the same time that inequities associated with socioeconomic characteristics diminish.

Education in South America is a critical reference guide to development of education in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The chapters, written by local experts, provide an overview of the education system in each country, focusing particularly on policies and implementation of reforms. Key themes include quality and access, multicultural education and the management of education systems. Including a comparative introduction to the issues facing education in the region as a whole and guides to available online datasets, this book is an essential reference for researchers, scholars, international agencies and policymakers.