Lingue minoritarie e politiche linguistiche per la scuola e la formazione docenti in Perù

Peru is located in one of the world’s areas of greatest linguistic diversity. Since the 1970s this nation has passed laws to protect this diversity and in support of bilingual education. These proposals have been reproached for having been drawn up without the collaboration of addressees and for being addressed exclusively to the indigenous population, with the aim of a progressive process of assimilation. More recent laws and institutional documents placed greater emphasis on the value of the linguistic and cultural realities of the different areas of the country, focusing on intercultural exchange and encouraging new proposals for intercultural bilingual schools and educational programmes, even in many villages where the central administration still did not guarantee any educational continuity. The aim of this article is to provide a description of the activities carried out within the framework of Peru’s language policies, while highlighting the strengths and limitations of the proposals. The focus is on teaching and teacher education policies. In relation to the latter, I present the case of the teacher education programme FORMABIAP, located in the Amazon region and promoted by AIDESEP, the Association which is a reference point for around 1,800 indigenous communities.