Educación intercultural bilingüe, privatización por defecto y desigualdad entre los docentes Awajún de la región San Martín

This paper explores some effects of the privatization of education and Awajun teacher training in the reproduction of inequality in the Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (EIB), main education policy for indigenous peoples in Peru. Since Leg- islative Decree N° 882 was promulgated in 1996, within the context of neoliberal policies, private education grew enormously. Although scarcely supervised by the State, this education offer became attractive to Awajun teachers from San Mar- tin, who work in the EIB service, in which indigenous teachers with professional degrees are scant. However, the engagement with private education contributes to the increasing devaluation of Awajun teachers’ roles and to the configuration of unequal educative networks. This qualitative research is based on informa- tion collected from interviews, observations and surveys with Awajun students and teachers, as well as with non-indigenous teacher trainers from public and private institutions in the cities of Moyobamba, Rioja, Nueva Cajamarca, and Jaén. In a complementary way, the study bases on official documents regarding the privatization of education, teacher training and EIB policy during the period of 1990 to 2015.