Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism: Indigenous Education in Bolivia - New Education Division Documents No. 9 By Lucia D Emilio
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New Education Division Documents No. 9
Voices and Processes
Toward Pluralism: Indigenous
Education in Bolivia
By Lucia DEmilio
SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
COOPERATION AGENCY
Department for Democracy and
Social Development, DESO
Education DivisionNew Education Division Documents No. 9
Voices and Processes
Toward Pluralism: Indigenous
Education in Bolivia
By Lucia DEmilio, UNICEF
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 1New Education Division Documents may be ordered from:
Biståndsforum, Sida
S-105 25 Stockholm
Phone +46 (0)8 698 50 00
Fax +46 (0)8 698 56 38
E-mail: info@sida.se
Homepage: www.sida.se
Written by: Lucia DEmilio
UNICEF, 1996
Translated by: Carolyn Benson
New Education Division Documents No. 9
Published by the Education Division at Sida, Department for Democracy
and Social Development
Printed by Elanders Novum AB
Stockholm, Sweden, 2001
ISSN 0283-0566
SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION AGENCY
Address: SE-105 25 Stockholm, Sweden.
Office: Sveavägen 20, Stockholm
Telephone: +46 (0)8 698 50 00. Telefax: +46 (0)8 20 88 64
E-mail: info@sida.se Homepage: www.sida.se
2 Voices and Processes Toward PluralismContents
Forword ........................................................................................................................ 5
Translators note ........................................................................................................ 7
Executive summary .................................................................................................. 9
List ofabbreviations ................................................................................................. 10
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11
PART 1: Indigenous children and their schooling
1.1 Diversity in Bolivia ................................................................................. 13
1.2 Education versus diversity ...................................................................... 16
1.3 Educational needs of indigenous boys and girls .................................... 20
PART 2: Toward education for pluralism: Case studies
2.1 The educational reform in Bolivia ......................................................... 25
2.2 The bilingual intercultural education project: Brief history .................. 26
2.3 Results in terms of student performance ............................................... 28
2.4 Empowerment of indigenous communities and organizations ............. 31
PART 3: Voices of the protagonists
3.1 Opinions of the boys and girls: Toward a defense
of bilingual education .................................................................................. 39
3.2 Opinions of the parents ......................................................................... 46
3.3 Opinions of the teachers ........................................................................ 56
Lessons learned ....................................................................................................... 59
References ................................................................................................................ 61
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 34 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism
Foreword
Indigenous people constitute the majority of Bolivia´s population. There are more
than 30 different ethno-lingustic groups. The Bolivian constitution recognises the
cultural and linguistic diversity of the population.
Sida has been supporting the Educational Reform in Bolivia since it started in
1995. The reform is being implemented with a focus on Intercultural Bilingual
Education. To strengthen this important initiative Sida has, at the same time, support-
ed Intercultural Bilingual Education through UNICEF in Bolivia.
This paper Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism written by Lucia DEmilio,
(PhD in Sociology), reflects the Bolivian situation and its complexity. Lucia DEmilio
highlights positive results and the need for Bilingual Intercultural Education through
testimonies. She also emphasizes the importance of incorporating the voices of the
protagonists in evaluations and educational programs.
We would like to express our gratitude to the author, who has made a valuable
contribution to the understanding of Intercultural Bilingual Education in Bolivia.
When she worked in Bolivia for UNICEF, she strongly supported the planning of
Intercultural Bilingual Education as part of the forthcoming Educational Reform
and, later, also its implementation. Lucia DEmilios knowledge and experience in this
area is internationally well known. We would also like to thank PhD Carol Benson for
translating the article into English. Without her help it would not have been possible
to publish this paper.
Sida has decided to publish the paper in Education Division Documents Series in
order to make it available more widely. Views expressed in the paper do not necessari-
ly reflect the views of Sida, UNICEF or the Government of Bolivia.
Stockholm in June 2001
Agneta Lind
Head of Education Division
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 56 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism
Translators note
I am pleased to have been asked to translate this very important document written by
Lucia DEmilio, who continues to do good work in the field of bilingual education,
although she is no longer in Bolivia. The insider perspective she brings to the task of
describing the situation of Bolivian children, especially indigenous children and
especially girls, is one to which we do not often have access. In the final section of this
work she allows students, parents, and teachers to speak for themselves, so we are put
in the unique position of listening to their seldom-heard voices.
Wherever possible I have included the original quote in Spanish, indicated in
italics, as well as particular words from the indigenous languages in bold italics. The
English translation follows immediately below, followed by the reference. In the
translations of personal testimonies I have tried to capture the tone of the speaker
rather than providing a literal translation of the words, which might not be under-
standable given the lack of context. I have not called attention to the minor grammat-
ical errors which characterize everyday speech, especially the speech of non-native
speakers, since they are not relevant to this work.
To the degree possible I have consulted with the author on appropriate ways of
saying what she intended to say, and I am hopeful that this English version fairly
represents her important work. However, I am responsible for any errors which
appear in this version.
Carolyn Benson, Ph.D.
Centre for Research on Bilingualism
Stockholm University
March 2000
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 78 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism
Executive summary
This work discusses the potential of bilingual intercultural education to improve
schooling opportunities for indigenous Bolivian children. The theme is developed in
the context of concepts promoted by UNICEF and other international organizations,
such as the consideration of language as both a human right and a basic need. The
concept of minority is seen in terms of power rather than numbers, since the
majority of Bolivians belong to indigenous ethnic groups for whom Castellano
(Spanish) is a second or foreign language. Traditional education has tried to eliminate
diversity and promote assimilation, but has been successful only at denigrating indige-
nous culture. Linguistic and cultural discrimination is epitomized by the traditional
teachers question, Do you want to be an Indian or do you want to be intelligent?
The author demonstrates that bilingual programs better meet Bolivian students
basic learning needs as defined by the World Conference on Education for All,
because the mother tongue is used both for beginning literacy learning and as a
medium of instruction. The Bilingual Intercultural Education Project (1990-1995),
which applied bilingual strategies using Quechua, Aymara, or Guaraní along with
Castellano in 114 primary schools, provided important precedents for the establish-
ment of bilingual programs as part of the Bolivian Educational Reform passed into
law in 1994. Favorable results included higher performance in reading and writing in
the early years, better academic averages overall, greater self-esteem, better perform-
ance on the part of girls, and less disciplinary action in the classroom. There were
also some limitations in terms of teaching strategies and student performance in
Castellano as a second language.
The testimonies of both parents and indigenous leaders highlight the importance
of bilingual schooling for empowerment of indigenous communities. Other benefits
include a closer relationship between home and school, greater identification of the
teacher with his or her ethnic group, and recuperation of indigenous language use in
zones experiencing language shift toward Castellano. Student testimonies provide
virtually unanimous support for use of the mother tongue in school, and demonstrate
the difficulties encountered when Castellano is used exclusively. The testimonies of
teachers demonstrate some initial ambivalence, which is also reflected in their difficult
role as mediators between the community, to which they may or may not belong, and
the school.
The author demonstrates the importance of incorporating the voices of the
protagonists in evaluations of educational programs, and for giving the indigenous
perspective as much weight as the outsider perspective so that a more integrative and
comprehensive assessment is possible.
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 9List of abbreviations
APG Asamblea del Pueblo Guaraní
Assembly of the Guaraní People
CEPO Consejo Educativo del Pueblo Originario
Education Council of Original Peoples
CSUTB Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia
United Peasants Union of Bolivia
EIB Educación Intercultural Bilingüe
Bilingual Intercultural Education
ETARE Equipo Técnico de Apoyo a la Reforma Educativa
Technical Support Team to the Educational Reform
ICDC International Child Development Center, UNICEF
ILO International Labor Organization, United Nations
PEIB Proyecto de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe
Bilingual Intercultural Education Project
SAE Sub-secretaría de Asuntos Etnicos de Bolivia
Bolivian Undersecretary of Ethnic Affairs
Sida Swedish International Development Authority
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Childrens Educational Fund
10 Voices and Processes Toward PluralismIntroduction
The present work1 is based on a reflection which was initiated by the International
Child Development Center (ICDC) at UNICEF in Florence, Italy concerning the
rights of minority children. It is well known that this theme opens up some quite
polemical debates, especially in the European countries both in and outside of the
European Union. In addition, use of the term minority is generally questionable
when referring to the indigenous peoples of Latin America. We are not simply talking
about semantic differences; as de Lucas (1994) tells us, there are at least two meanings
surrounding the term minority which could be described as minority group
rights and right to diversity, and each of them implies different ideological posi-
tions and programs: the right to be a minority and as such to be treated as equal to
the majority, or a special right for special people. At the same time, the right to
diversity can mean the right to be treated equally despite the differences, or even the
right to be treated differently (de Lucas, 1994; Bobbio, 1994).
According to discussions around the proposed Declaration of Indigenous Rights, the
right to language is seen as an undeniable right and a basic need (de Lucas, 1994:105).
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has made explicit reference to the right of all
children to receive an education in the mother tongue which respects familial and cultural
traditions. Nevertheless, some consider linguistic rights a luxury, believing them to be
expensive or, worse, elitist, which is a frequent claim made by opponents to the linguistic
policies of Cataluña or the Paìs Vasco. Even in Latin America there are many who assert
that bilingual education is too expensive for such poor countries and who demand an
accounting of the costs of bilingual programs. For educational planners, in this total
confusion of contexts and processes, the indigenous child of Latin America somehow
becomes an elite; as we know, this is not the case, but rather the contrary: the indige-
nous child is the poorest and the least visible. Does this mean that we are expensive too?
was the ironic exclamation of Pablino Parapaibo, a Chiquitano leader, on this theme.
In the following pages we will discuss some educational rights of indigenous
children, referring to the nation of Bolivia, where indigenous peoples constitute the
majority of the overall population and even more of the child population. Bilingual
intercultural education is one of the primary demands of the indigenous organiza-
tions. As Stavenhagen states, Much has been written about this issue, mainly from
the point of view of educational institutions, priorities and policies; much less has
been said about the place of children themselves in the framework of multicultural-
ism (Stavenhagen, 1994:22). For this reason we have tried in the present work to pay
particular attention to the perceptions of the boys and girls involved.
The first part of this document refers to the Bolivian context within the global
framework of education of indigenous boys and girls. The principal data to be
discussed are the results of a recent sociolinguistic study sponsored by UNICEF
Bolivia, as well as other investigations promoted by the Ministry of Education in the
context of the Educational Reform, with the objective of identifying the basic learn-
ing needs of children of different cultural groups. Finally, the opinions of the indige-
nous children and others from the minority groups will be presented with regard to
their education, their linguistic preferences, and the future of their languages.
In the second section we will refer to a specific educational project which was
carried out with the support of the Swedish government. This project recognized the
1
At the time of writing the author worked for UNICEF in La Paz, Bolivia. The author is responsible for all
opinions expressed here, which are not necessarily shared by the institution.
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 11linguistic and cultural diversity of the target population and has become an important
referent for a new educational policy which makes interculturalism, bilingualism, and
indigenous participation the principal ejes or foci of a transformation. We will analyze
the results and limitations of the Bilingual Intercultural Education Project (PEIB)
from a dual perspective: childrens school performance and the strengthening or
empowerment of indigenous communities.
The third part of this work is spoken by the principal protagonists: boys, girls,
parents, community leaders, and teachers. Unlike the prior section, which describes
use of quantitative instruments to analyze school performance, this part treats the
process from an emic perspective, meaning that it is expressed from the point of view
of the subjects involved,2 through testimonies collected during school visits and
meetings with focus groups. There are notable differences in results according to the
perspective taken and the investigative techniques utilized.
Finally, some conclusions and recommendations will be outlined, with the idea of
constructing proposals for education which take diversity into account. We feel that
the principal problem is not the presence of multiple identities and languages but
rather the existence of mechanisms of discrimination and exclusion. Instead of
offering pre-formulated prescriptions, we will indicate some elements which have
strategically important implications in the indigenous Bolivian context. The global
character of the debate about minority rights makes generalizations difficult, and
therefore we will try to contextualize the discussion with all possible precision, at the
risk of being repetitious.
We will also attempt to consider the questions which Rodolfo Stavenhagen pre-
sented in a debate sponsored by the ICDC at UNICEF:
What are, indeed, the best interests of the child as regards educational
options in a complex environment? How important is the maintenance of a
childs mother tongue in a foreign environment? How does the use of the
mother tongue in early education enhance the childs ability to learn and
develop? What is the best mix between the teaching of the mother tongue and
the teaching of the official or national language? How do educational
institutions strike a balance between the transmittal of the model of a na-
tional culture (highly valued in unitary states as an instrument of political
control and the building of a common citizenship) and the reproduction of
local or minority culture, valued as a collective human right and put forward
as a claim by members of these cultures? (Stavenhagen, 1994:22)
We believe that some of these questions have been answered in this work, while
others will require further explanation. In Bolivia, that which is different is not neces-
sarily foreign, and its majority indigenous languages are as official and as national as
Spanish (known as Castellano in Bolivia and throughout this paper).
This work would not have been possible without the support of various collabora-
tors, teachers, indigenous and rural community leaders, boys and girls, intellectuals,
and state officials. To all of them I offer my profound appreciation for having raised
my nomadic consciousness.3
2
Based on the distinction of Pike between phonetic and phonemic aspects [of language], many social scientists
differentiate between etic and emic approaches to cultural phenomena. An etic approach explains events by
using external instruments and data which are objective and verifiable. An emic approach, on the other hand,
understands a phenomenon by adopting logical categories which are established by the subjects involved (see for
example Harris, 1968).
12 Voices and Processes Toward PluralismPART 1: Indigenous children and their schooling
1.1 Diversity in Bolivia
Bolivia is characterized by its indigenous core, with the majority of its population
pertaining to more than 30 different ethno-linguistic groups and living in the most
varied ecosystems, from the frigid altiplano, or high plateau, to the plains and the humid
Amazon forests. Although it is known primarily as an Andean nation, a great part of
Bolivias territory and its ethnic groups are Amazonian. The Andean groups of Que-
chua and Aymara account for a few million people, while other groups consist of more
reduced populations. Similarly, some groups completely maintain their traditional
cultural practices, while others have suffered more intense and effective processes of
acculturation. Still, Bolivia continues to be a majority indigenous country.
Despite the difficulties of quantifying the indigenous population by relying on linguis-
tic data which excludes children under 6 years old as well as parts of the population which
have ceased to speak the indigenous language,4 Xavier Albó has undertaken an important
sociolinguistic study, sponsored by UNICEF Bolivia with the contribution of Swedish
cooperation (Sida), at the request of the Technical Team of the Educational Reform
(ETARE). Among the principal findings of the investigation is the important fact that, in
relation to the earlier National Census of 1979, the number of speakers of Castellano is
going up and to a lesser degree the number of monolingual vernacular language
speakers is going down.5 This linguistic evolution over the period between 1976 and 1992
corroborates a tendency which was observed earlier by the same author regarding the
period between 1950 and 1976, which was: [T]here is an apparent advance of Castel-
lano, but its impact on the indigenous languages is less evident: it continues to lead more
to bilingualism than to Castellano monolingualism (Albó, 1995, Vol. I:28).
This means that gaining bilingual skills, even in diglossic situations,6 does not
necessarily mean suffering loss of the mother tongue. This is evidenced in numerous
situations, among them the traditional Aymara zones and the Guaraní zone of Eiti.
In the latter case, more than 95 percent of the population speaks Guaraní, despite the
fact that 77 percent also know Castellano (Albó, 1995, Vol. II:4). Evidently, the case
of Eiti is an extreme example,7 but it is an important reference point for a language
3
Having nomadic consciousness means not considering any identity permanent. The nomad is always on the
move Epistemological nomadism does not exclude more sedentary institutionalized practices, and permits
one to play better on the institutional team (Braidotti, 1995:40).
4
In this respect, the same author states, [T]his questionable decision to eliminate children can create distortions as
much in the basic data as in subsequent planning measures, especially if we consider that this age range is the
most numerous and is the one which will be enrolling in the educational system. Worldwide, the number of
children between 0 and 5 is 21.5% higher than the total of children ages 6 and over, though there may be
differences between places (Albó, 1995, Vol. I:5). The author proposes a formula which calculates the language
of children under 6, including those who do not yet speak, based on a comparison of the linguistic knowledge of
the group between 6 and 9 years with the group between 10 and 19 years (Albó, 1995, Vol. I:19).
5
We use the term vernacular language as UNESCO does, in the sense of a language which is the mother
tongue of a group which is socially or politically dominated by another group speaking a different language
(UNESCO, 1953:46). As such the term vernacular language emphasises the type of relationship which exists
between the languages.
6
According to Fishman, diglossia is the close correlation between utilization of one of the two linguistic codes and
ones social class and/or certain social functions (Fishman, 1975).
7
The Guaraní zone of Eiti, apart from presenting the abovementioned sociolinguistic characteristics, is also an
unique place because of the articulation between new authorities and traditional ones (mburuvicha guasu).
The educational nucleus or school cluster of Eiti was incorporated into the PEIB project from its inception.
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 13policy which is directed toward a multilingual Bolivia, where the majority of inhabit-
ants are bilingual, as opposed to a monolingual Castellano-speaking Bolivia.
The following is a synthesis of linguistic evolution in Bolivia, taking into account
only the data expressed in percentages:
Table 1: Linguistic evolution 1976 to 1992
Language ability 1976 1992
Speak Castellano 78.8 87.4
Speak Quechua 39.7 34.3
Speak Aymara 28.8 23.0
Speak other indigenous languages 1.1 1.6
Only speak Castellano 36.3 41.7
Only speak an indigenous language 20.4 11.5
Ages covered All 6 + years
(Albó, 1995, Vol. I:23)
Another piece of very important data from the study concerns the cities and their
multilingual character. With very few exceptions, the majority of Bolivian cities
contain high percentages of indigenous peoples who continue to speak their own
languages. The continuous flow of migration from the countryside to the city keeps
the vernacular languages alive despite the rapidly growing access to Castellano (Albó,
1995, Vol. II:69113). The following is a synthesis of the percentages of Quechua
and Aymara speakers in the major cities of the country:
Table 2: Aymara and Quechua speakers in cities
City % Aymara % Quechua
Cochabamba 9 50
El Alto 60 8
La Paz 40 10
Oruro 22 40
Potosí 2 69
Santa Cruz 4 12
Sucre 2 60
Tarija 3 14
Viacha 60 5
(Albó, 1995, Vol. II:69)
The most interesting aspect is that even in those cities considered most monolin-
gual in Castellano, such as Tarija or Santa Cruz, a good percentage of the population
speaks one of the two majority indigenous languages. With the exception of La Paz
and El Alto, in the other Andean cities, in any neighborhood, approximately one-
third of the population speaks Quechua or Aymara. Potosí being the most extreme
14 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralismcase of the departmental capitals, only one of its neighborhoods has less than 50
percent vernacular language speakers (Albó, 1995, Vol. II:71).
Based on the existing data, Albó identifies many different sociolinguistic situations
which would merit differential treatment, according to linguistic loyalty to the original
language,8 the sociolinguistic context, and the geographic location. In reality we can
note that all of Bolivia is characterized by diversity, such that even the Political
Constitution of the State recognizes it.
The school is also a diverse context, where classes are quite heterogeneous in age
and there are many multigrade classrooms. At the linguistic level, it is not rare to
encounter in one single classroom many sociolinguistic contexts, on a continuum
which ranges from monolingualism in one language to monolingualism in another,
passing through different levels of skills of both languages. In certain cases there are
more than two languages involved, as in areas of colonization or trilingual enclaves,
where one vernacular language which is prestigious in other geographical areas may
be transformed into a language of lesser prestige in the presence of another vernacu-
lar. It is difficult to mark the frontiers in dynamic demographic contexts: even in
zones which are more linguistically and culturally homogeneous, there are always
differences in a classroom which can become contexts for exclusion. For example, in
multigrade classroomsfound in a high percentage of rural indigenous schools
where students pertain to heterogeneous age groups, the teacher usually manages to
pay more attention to the older ones, forgetting about the younger ones. Advances in
learning can also constitute indicators used to exclude, stigmatize and discriminate
against those who learn more slowly or in another way, or those who simply do not
understand what the teacher is saying in an unknown language.
At this point it may be worth stressing that this is a country with not only
sociolinguistic differences but also cultural and social-organizational ones. Even if
particular linguistic, cultural, and ethnic group identities are not so evident, it is
calculated that there are approximately 30 ethnic groups in Bolivia. Due to the
cultural distance which exists between the various ethnic groups, as well as be-
tween these groups and the dominant society, there are many different ways of
perceiving and categorizing reality, social relations, time and space. Concepts
which are so common in education, such as knowing, intelligence, and
teaching, can have different backgrounds and interpretations. For example, in
certain Quechua communities, according to investigations undertaken by Ruperto
Romero, a young Bolivian educational psychologist, the adjective chiki, com-
monly translated as intelligent, actually incorporates a much broader semantic
field which ranges from cognitive categories to social behavior.9 The testimony of
a Quechua peasant farmer, as quoted by the same author, synthesizes the ampli-
tude of their concept of intelligence:
El chiki es buen hijo, los demás se fijan como hace él, no es flojo, cuando hay que hacer
juntos él controla a los demás, trabajaremos, haremos, dice, piensa, a la gente les dice así
haremos, piensa bien, dicen ellos. El puede hacer bien dicen, así debemos hacer, dicen
8
The author measures linguistic loyalty by comparing the percentage of speakers of a language from two age
groups: the age 6 to 9 group and the group over 50. Linguistic loyalty is high, good, average, or low if the
percentage holds, respectively, at over 90%, between 80 and 89%, between 50 and 79%, or under 50%.
9
The same author provides the following definitions given by adults from the population regarding a child who is
chiki: reflective, prudent, rational, creative, has a good memory, correct, mature, responsible, obliging, honest,
sensitive, obedient, respectful, cordial, hard-working, speaks well (also coherently and with good vocabulary),
pays attention, learns well in school, has ability, has manual and artistic skills (Romero, 1994:118).
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 15mirando eso es prudente, no habla sonseras, habla correctamente, no quiere sólo para él
quiere para todos. Hay otros en cambio que quieren sólo para ellos, para robar, para pegar,
para quitar, para eso son ingeniosos, ellos no son chiki porque son abusivos, sólo sirven
para hacer daño a la gente.
The one who is chiki is a good son [or daughter], the others notice how he does
things, he is not lazy, when there is something to do together he controls the
others, we work, we do things, he says, he thinks, to the people he says this is the
way we do it, he is right, they say. He can do it well, they say, that is the way we
must do it, they say watching him he is prudent, he does not say foolish things,
he speaks correctly, he doesnt want something just for himself but for others. On
the other hand there are others who want something only for themselves, to rob,
to hit, to take away, they are ingenious in these ways they are not chiki because
they are abusive, they only exist to hurt people. (Romero, 1994:117)
The Guaraní language translates knowledge as two different words, arakuaa
(literally knowledge about the world) and ñemboe (what is learned from the
word). The first concept is consistently related to the elders and the home culture,
while the other, which is sometimes used more in the sense of skills, is mainly con-
nected with the school, though it is not necessarily limited to that context. From this
we can infer that wisdom does not pertain to an education from school. With
reference to arakuaa, Gustafson, an anthropologist who speaks Guaraní, recorded
the following explanation which took place in a very traditional community:
Y esta sabiduría (el arakuaa) ¿les da la escuela?
No, porque en la escuela se aprende como karaí.10
And this wisdom (arakuaa), is it provided by the school?
No, because at school one learns like a karaí [white person].
(Gustafson, 1994:13)
1.2 Education versus diversity
The diverse context indicated in the section above has been considered the main
obstacle for statisticians, planners, and educators who, since the dawn of the Repub-
lic, have conceived the educational system as a means of erasing differences and
constructing a homogeneous nation. For the indigenous person this creates a conflict
between an identity in which it is not possible to recognize oneself and an identity
which has not been recognized (Amadio, 1989:436). Even as late as 1993, a former
President of the Republic raised doubts about the necessity of teaching reading and
writing in languages like Quechua and Aymara, saying:
Obviamente, lo que hay que hacer es incorporar a esas masas a la corriente principal del
país occidentalizado mediante programas de educación especial que comiencen por enseñar el
castellano y alfabetizar a esas poblaciones porque sin tales instrumentos básicos, hablar de su
incorporación al país oficial, hispanoparlante y occidentalizado, sería pueril.
Obviously what remains to be done is to incorporate those masses into the
main current of the Westernized nation through special educational programs
10
Karaí is the name the Guarani use to refer to white people.
16 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralismwhich begin by teaching Castellano and literacy to those populations, because
without such basic instruments, speaking of their incorporation into the
official nation, which is Spanish-speaking and Westernized, would be futile.
(Guevara Arce, 1993:21)
There has already been a great deal written about the manifestations and consequences
of educational policy on indigenous populations, not only in Bolivia but in all of Latin
America. There are statistics and testimonies which provide evidence of the terrible cost
of schooling to indigenous peoples of Bolivia, as much in cultural terms as in economic
ones. According to official data from UNESCO, the problem of school success is more
serious for the rural indigenous areas where after completing four grades, half of the
students do not understand what they are reading (UNESCO, 1993:27).11 In addition
it is noteworthy that, according to UNESCO data, the Latin America and Caribbean
region spends almost one-third of its public primary education budget on school repeti-
tion (Schiefelbein, 1995:18), and that in Bolivia the cost of repetition is approximately
30 million dollars annually (Schiefelbein and Heikkinen, 1991).
At the cultural and socio-organizational level, the school has imposed an even
higher cost, beginning with the imposition of a religious faith and the subsequent
prohibition of traditional cultural practices and beliefs. The educational history of
Bolivia, precisely like that of other countries with indigenous populations, demon-
strates that schooling has been a means of domination of the indigenous identity.
Félix Santos, national leader of the highest peasant organization, told me that he only
went school for a few years but his teacher would often ask him, Do you want to be
an Indian or do you want to be intelligent? This summarizes the perspective which
agents of the educational system can have about their role and function. This view
exists up to present and we encounter it constantly in the discourse and practice of
the educational system. Only a few years ago Gustafson reported that, in the libro de
actas (book which reports school actions) of a school in a Guaraní community, a
Mestiza (Spanish-speaking) teacher wrote, We have advanced as far as the word uña
[fingernail] but since this is a new school and besides they are Guaraní, it will be
necessary for all to repeat from the beginning (Gustafson, 1994:19; our underline).
That teachers perception is reflected by the statistics. Indigenous children who speak
native languages have higher levels of repetition than monolingual Hispanic children.
According to the Bolivian Educational Reform data, the indigenous population has
almost double the probability of repetition (40 percent versus 23 percent for non-
indigenous students) (ETARE, 1993b). At times repetition is obligatory and is not
based on actual school performance, so that the result is that many children, and
especially indigenous girls in the rural areas, repeat grades because there are no more
levels offered in their communities and no opportunities to continue studying in other
places. At times it is simply a matter of mathematics, such as needing to maintain a
certain balance in the teacher-student ratio. In these cases repetition of a number of
children from one grade level permits the community to retain the ítem (paid position
for one teacher) and in this way assure the survival of the school.12
11
The same source states that these averages are also found in the marginal areas of countries such as Venezuela
and Chile. Perhaps for this reason planners of policy and of educational programs seem to be more concerned
about pedagogical questions than about linguistic ones (see Schiefelbein, 1995 on this issue).
12
Many indigenous communities in Bolivia have access only to one-room schoolhouses which provide only the first
three years of primary education, despite the fact that official data claim there is a very good teacher-student ratio.
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 17One study done by Johns Hopkins University on maternal-infant health among the
indigenous and non-indigenous populations of Bolivia and Guatemala states that im-
provements in the mothers education or in potable water supply are not associated with
similar improvements in mortality rates in either population. At the same time, it appears
that the abilities which education provides to indigenous women and non-indigenous
women are different (Robles, 1994:249). The same study finds that membership in the
indigenous population presumes a disadvantage which persists even when economic and
social conditions are improved (Ibid.). It is evident that we are talking about the subjection
of indigenous peoples to additional disadvantage in terms of cultural and skin-color
discrimination. No matter what her level of study, an indigenous woman, particularly if
she is de pollera,13 is more susceptible to poor treatment based on certain stereotypes.
Linguistic and cultural discrimination have been the rule in the Bolivian education
system, and Castellano has been the only national language utilized in the school and its
textbooks. This blindness toward multilingualism has been such that not even the
intended Castillianization has had the desired effects, for it has not been planned; that
is to say, Spanish has simply been used in the schools without being taught according to
appropriate methods for the teaching of a second language. In this respect, it is possible
to say that the school itself has contributed more to the loss of values and knowledge
than to the acquisition of new values and knowledge, even alien knowledge. As Tedesco
notes, for other indigenous parts of Latin America regarding the school:
[V]astos sectores de la población no sufrieron tanto la imposición de un código cultural
distinto, como la destrucción del propio. Dicho en términos más precisos, si por un lado estos
sectores no fueron considerados como destinatarios legítimos de la cultura dominante, por el
otro sufrieron la destrucción de las bases sociales y materiales que alimentaban el desarrollo
de su cultura autóctona.
[V]ast sectors of the population suffered not so much the imposition of a
distinct cultural code as the destruction of their own code. In more precise
terms, if on one hand these sectors were not considered legitimate receivers of
the dominant culture, on the other hand they suffered the destruction of the
social and material bases which fed development of their indigenous culture.
(Tedesco, 1985:8)
As we have already said in another work (DEmilio and Albó, 1991) the dis-educa-
tional function of the school presents alarming aspects in a country such as Bolivia
with an indigenous majority. The indigenous child is constantly exposed to an educa-
tional system which negates his/her identity and, as we now recognize, is used to
discriminate against him/her even further. Even now, when the official political
discourse of the Bolivian state calls for an education which respects the languages and
cultures of children, adolescents studying at teacher training institutions are prohibit-
ed from wearing indigenous clothing. These are recent stories which perpetuate the
practice of exclusion to which children, especially indigenous girls, and their parents
have been exposed.14 Another element of identity which is constantly affected by the
13
In Bolivia women are commonly differentiated as mujeres de vestido (women with dresses) or mujeres de pollera
(women with skirts), depending on their type of clothing. The pollera is a combination of skirts used widely by
Andean women.
14
Even the wife of the current indigenous Vice President of the country, Señora Lidia Katari de Cardenas, an
Aymara teacher by profession, has been prohibited a number of times from exercising her profession because she
was wearing indigenous clothing.
18 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralismeducational system and by society as a whole is the persons name. There are many
who, for one reason or another, find themselves changing their first or family names. I
recall an enrollment session for students in an Amazonic indigenous community
where finally, for the first time, the long-awaited teacher had arrived. This teacher,
who did not speak one word of the community language, tried to explain to parents
why it was important to enroll their children under other names. At times he depend-
ed on phonology (Mateo is better than Matiwa, and it sounds almost the same), and
other times by gender (Ukamo is better than Ukama because mens names end in
o). When the first day of class finally arrived and the students appeared dressed in
the best indigenous outfits and adornments, their faces painted with achiote (tradi-
tional dye), it was this same teacher who sent them immediately to wash their faces.
Later he picked up a pair of scissors and cut the hair of all of the boys, because only
girls have long hair.15
Regarding this divergence between teachers, students and parents, some testimo-
nies from the colonized Aymara zones are revealing: Parents and teachers will blame
each other, engaging in mutual mud-slinging, for the school failure experienced by
new generations (Rivera, 1994:106). Another from the same investigation is: Never-
theless, a deeper problem has recently been detected, a source of non-well-being in
the culture, as an explanation of the problem of the hierarchies and the permanent
devaluation of our own knowledge and wisdom (Ibid.:106).
In a careful analysis of the educational situation in the indigenous areas, one
document of the Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (United
Peasants Union of Bolivia) states:
La educación nos ha metido la idea de que era malo todo lo nuestro: la lengua, las costum-
bres, la vestimenta, nuestro pensamiento y nuestra tierra; muchos escolares se avergüenzan de
ser campesinos, quechuas, aimaras, guaraníes etc La prohibición en el uso de su lengua
materna acompleja a los niños, les hace sentir como si fueran inútiles; por eso no toman
ninguna iniciativa y se mantienen callados.
Education has given us the idea that everything that was ours was bad: the
language, the customs, the clothing, our thinking and our land; many educat-
ed people are ashamed of being peasants, Quechuas, Aymaras, Guaranís
etc Prohibition of the use of the mother tongue gives children a complex, it
makes them feel useless; for this reason they do not take any initiative and they
remain silent.
(CSUTCB, 1991:67)
Among the indigenous groups in the eastern part of the country, some traditional
authorities began the work of raising awareness regarding education in the mother
tongue. One pioneer was Bonifacio Barrientos, the now-deceased Great Leader of
the Guaraní of Isoso. His son, Homónimo, also took up in defense of bilingual
education, remembering the difficulty of his personal experience:
Yo he sufrido cuando fui a la escuela. No podía entender en castellano: los profesores me han
tratado de burro, que soy tonto, pero si me hubiesen hablado en guaraní, yo les hubiese podido
15
Another interesting story about name changes is told by Lusiku Qhispi Mamani, transformed through the ups
and downs of life into Luciano Tapia, an indigenous Aymara leader, in his recent autobiography. Remembering
these changes in identity, he says, I was like something suspended in a vacuum (Tapia, 1995:171).
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 19contestar bien. Cuando me enseñaban a leer, claro, leía pero no entendía nada. Por eso hemos
visto que hay necesidad de estudiar en el mismo idioma, porque aquí en el Isoso hablamos
desde chiquitos hasta morir el guaraní. Rara persona habla castellano; especialmente las
mujeres, no saben de este idioma, peor nuestras mamás.
I have suffered when I went to school. I couldnt understand in Castellano: the
teachers treated me like a donkey, like I am stupid, but if they had spoken to
me in Guaraní, I would have been able to answer well. When they taught me
to read, of course, I read but I didnt understand a thing. For this reason we
have seen that it is necessary to study in ones own language, because here in
Isoso from the time we are small up until death we speak Guaraní. Few people
speak Castellano; especially the women, they dont know that language, much
less our mothers (elder women).
(Gottret et al., 1995)
1.3 Educational needs of indigenous boys and girls
There has been a lot of talk since the World Conference on Education for All about
basic learning needs, and many insist that educational systems must identify these
needs and satisfy them in working toward more equity in schooling. The World
Declaration of Education for All defines basic learning needs in this way:
Estas necesidades abarcan tanto las herramientas esenciales para el aprendizaje (como la
lectura y la escritura, la expresión oral, el cálculo, la solución de problemas), como los
contenidos básicos del aprendizaje (conocimientos teóricos y prácticos, valores y actitudes)
necesarios para que los seres humanos puedan sobrevivir, desarrollar plenamente sus capaci-
dades, vivir y trabajar con dignidad, participar plenamente en el desarrollo, mejorar la
calidad de su vida, tomar decisiones fundamentales y continuar aprendiendo. La amplitud de
las necesidades básicas de aprendizaje y la manera de satisfacerlas varían según cada país y
cada cultura y cambian inevitablemente en el transcurso del tiempo.
These needs cover all of the tools necessary for learning (such as reading and
writing, oral expression, basic calculations, problem solving) as well as the
basic academic contents of learning (theoretical and practical knowledge,
values and attitudes) necessary for human beings to survive, develop their
abilities to their full extent, live and work with dignity, participate fully in their
own development, improve the quality of their lives, make fundamental
decisions and continue learning. The range of basic learning needs and the
manner in which they are satisfied vary according to each country and each
culture, and inevitably change over the course of time.
(WCEFA, 1990:2)16
In the context of elaborating the proposal for the Educational Reform of the country,
various ethnographic investigations were undertaken related to the basic learning
needs of different populations.17 All of them coincide in stating that a basic need of
16
There has been a very interesting debate in Latin America and around the world about basic learning needs and,
more concretely, whether they involve only individual needs or also collective ones.
17
We refer mainly to the work of Javier Macera (1995) with the Chimanes; Bret Gustafson (1994) with the
Guaranís of Tarija; Silvia Rivera with the Aymana in the zones of colonization; and Diez Astete (1994) with the
Amazonic groups of Mojeño and Siriono.
20 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralismlearning is language and identity or, more correctly, languages and identities, because
as explained above we are talking about the manifestation of multiple contexts, in a
diverse country where many languages, cultures, and socio-organizational unities
coexist, and where Castellano is no more necessary than any other national language
to the one who speaks it.18
Another basic need connected to the above is to have a teacher who shares the
language and culture, though this situation of socio-cultural proximity or group
membership often puts the indigenous teacher in an ambiguous position due to the
conflict of roles and logic which can present itself. In this sense, we have gathered
various testimonies from colonized Aymara zones as well as Amazonic ethnic groups,
for example:
Para mi, para ser un profesor modelo tendría que tener más que todo esa relación, esa
confianza con la comunidad, tendría que ser un nativo de cada comunidad, a pesar de que
veo en cada ambiente comunal, cada ambiente social a una persona que quizás ha nacido
ahí, ha vivido siempre, hay esa discrepancia de que es uno de aquí, que sabe el por qué va dar
situaciones no sé tal vez falta de mucha confianza o a veces falta de respeto entre nosotros
porque si uno vino de allá, es lo mismo que el que sale de ahí (misma comunidad), tiene los
mismos derechos, las mismas cualidades, a pesar que todavía el que puede salir de ahí puede
tener la prioridad todavía de hacer crecer major o poder darse el 100 porciento de la enseñan-
za, en el crecimiento educativo. Pero a veces el reverso es, también, se creen uno superiores a
unos, a veces es un poco incrédulo también el tipo ¿no? ¿Nace de ahí no?
To me, to be a model teacher, one would have to have more than anything
that relationship, that mutual trust with the community, one would have to be
a native of each community, despite the fact that I see that in each community
environment, each social environment to someone who perhaps has been
born there, has always lived there, there is that discrepancy in that it is some-
one from here, someone who knows why there are situations like, I dont
know, maybe lack of mutual trust or at times lack of respect between us,
because if one came from far away, it is the same as the one who comes from
here (the same community), he has the same rights, the same qualities, despite
the fact that he can still leave here, he can still have the priority of [making
students] grow more or being able to give 100 percent to teaching, to his
educational growth. But at times the reverse is, also, one believes one is
superior to others, at times its almost unbelievable that type of person, isnt
it? The one whos born here, you know?
(Rivera, 1994:52)
I encountered the same contradiction a few years ago in indigenous communities of
the Peruvian Amazon (DEmilio, 1985). On one hand an indigenous teacher is de-
manded by the community, and on the other hand he is not completely accepted
because he does not fulfill his sociocultural obligations, or because he does not know
much more than the others. Macera also detected, among the Chimanes of Bolivia,
the same tension between ethnic group membership and teaching obligations:
18
Silvia Rivera arrives at the conclusion that in the colonized area of los Yungas, the language against which there
is most discrimination is not Aymara but Castimillano (from Castellano and imilla, which means young
woman in Aymara), which is what bilingual people often say to ridicule popular Andean Castellano (Rivera,
1994:106).
Voices and Processes Toward Pluralism 21El profesor experimenta en varios sentidos, dificultades en su adecuación a la comunidad.
Primero, su condición de asalariado lo coloca en una posición social particular, distanciándo-
lo de los demás chimanes. Esto se manifiesta en una falta de consenso en la comunidad
acerca de las formas de colaboración en trabajo y productos alimenticios En algunos
casos, el profesor fluctúa entre el retorno a su vida tradicional y las obligaciones escolares.
The teacher experiences various feelings, difficulties in his adaptation to the
community. First, his salaried position puts him in a certain social position,
distancing him from the other Chimanes. This is manifested in a lack of
consensus in the community about the forms of collaboration in work and
food products In some cases, the teacher vacillates between returning to a
traditional life and fulfilling his school obligations.
(Macera, 1995:77)
Another educational need of indigenous children is that of membership in a commu-
nity group which can be maintained as such. According to official statistics, almost
one-third of the ethnic groups in Bolivia are in a high state of vulnerability, which is
understood as the combination and interaction of factors related to domination
with negative effects on their dynamism and internal processes, altering the combina-
tion of social, economic, and cultural systems and institutions to the degree that they
are situated in a critical threshold of a process which conducts them to their physical
disappearance or dissolution as peoples (SAE, 1994). Therefore it is important to
consider that in the same way that there are various linguistic and cultural manifesta-
tions, there are also multiple systems of both internal and external exclusion and
discrimination, which in certain cases take the form of racism, prejudice, and stereo-
types, which not only refer to the relation between indigenous and non-indigenous
people, but also extend to other internal and external forms of discrimination, for
example that of gender or of sub-groups. There is, for example, a great deal of
discrimination between inhabitants of the Andean zones (called disrespectfully
collas) and from the plains (called cambas), and this discrimination transcends
ethnic origin or pertinence to a certain social class.
We will now attempt to report the opinions of the actual children about education
and language use. We refer to a survey of 176 indigenous boys and girls at primary
school level. The majority (76 percent) was Guaraní, 3 percent were Guarayo, and the
rest were Chiquitano. Among all of these indigenous peoples there has been a move-
ment to recuperate linguistic and cultural practices as well as pedagogical practices,
especially among the Guaraní. Half of the children surveyed had been exposed to an
experimental project in bilingual intercultural education, though only for a few years
(23.3 percent for one year, and 14 percent for the five years of primary schooling).
The majority of students spoke as a mother tongue the indigenous language of their
respective groups, but 29.5 percent of the boys and girls spoke Castellano as a mother
tongue.
The investigation was carried out in the framework of the Guaraní Teacher
Training Program and was applied to students in this program, under the direction of
the Guaraní professor Herlan Ayreyu. The study results provide some indications of
the perceptions of children about their culture, their language, and their people,
trying in addition to capture the value these have for the children. As one would
imagine, these themes are quite complex to be captured through questionaires done
22 Voices and Processes Toward Pluralismby young investigators. Nevertheless, all of the investigators spoke the indigenous
language and utilized open questioning techniques.19
According to the survey mentioned, 82 percent of the children like or would like
(depending on whether or not they were involved in this educational form) to study in
their mother tongues, even if they are already bilingual. The same children (about 70
percent) had explained why, through responses that covered advantages that are
generally cognitive (for example, We learn better or It is easier), linguistic (We
understand more, We always talk), or affective (I like it better). Almost 10
percent of the children give responses which note the cultural strengthening of their
respective groups.
In relation to the future of the indigenous languages, 73 percent of the children
(especially those with indigenous mother tongues) were optimistic regarding their
maintenance: It is not going to be lost. Regarding the reasons for their optimism,
30 percent referred to oral language use (Everyone speaks it); 15 percent referred to
daily practice and also to its written use in education: 38 percent of those who indi-
cated optimism regarding the future of their languages see great potential in the
writing system to maintain the language: We already write in it, There are already
books, We already study this language, There are already teachers. It is interest-
ing to note that ones mother tongue (indigenous or Castellano) corresponds signifi-
cantly with ones expectations for the future of the indigenous language, as demon-
strated in the table below, where students whose mother tongue is Castellano are
indicated separately from those who speak Guaraní, Chiquitano, or Guarayo as a first
language.
Table 3: Future of the indigenous languages, by language spoken
Language spoken Will be lost Will not be lost Dont know
Indigenous L1 (68%) 5.6% 56.8% 5.6%
Castellano L1 (32%) 12.3% 17.3% 2.5%
Total 17.9% 74.1% 8.1%
Some children who think that the indigenous language will disappear make
reference to the influence of external causes, others to affective factors (Young
people now dont want to speak it). One child maintained that the language was
going to be lost because those who speak it are dying, referring to its use which is
limited to elders.
Regarding the childrens evaluation of non-indigenous children, the results reveal
a vast range of perceptions: 58 percent consider them different, 32 percent equal and
others do not know or did not respond. Analysis of the responses brings us directly
into the contemporary debate over differences between identities and the many ways
of perceiving them, analyzing them and putting them into practice. The differences
most often noted pertain to socioeconomic conditions; more than 46 percent consider
non-indigenous children different because They are rich, They have land, They
have herds. Children also mention linguistic and cultural differences, but in lower
19
The processing of this information was done with the invaluable collaboration of Gustavo Gottret.
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