Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Over 8,000 teachers that failed an academic exam in March were given another opportunity to teach for the country's public schools on Sunday June 1.

When only 151 out of over 180,000 teachers in Peru passed the exam in March, the government announced that all those that had failed with scores between 11 and 13.9 would be allowed to retake the exam.

A minimum of 14 points out of 20 were required to pass the test and proceed to the next stage of the new selection process the ministry of education has established in the Andean country.

The ministry of education announced on Wednesday that 3,337 teachers, less than 50 percent of those that took the exam for the second time, passed the test taken on June 1.

It was reported that a total of 8,153 teachers took the exam.

59 percent of this group will not be allowed to proceed to the following stage of the selection process because they scored less than 14 points on the test.

The Minister of Education Jose Antonio Chang stated that the highest score, a 17.6, was obtained by Luis Enrique Alarcon, a teacher in Lima.

He stated that another exam would be held in January to cover the teaching positions that still needed to be filled.

Before the second exam, the Vice Minister of education Idel Vexler stated, "The test has been improved and I hope that with the experience from the previous exam teachers will show what they know and do well".