Interview with Vicente Limachi*

“All indigenous people must continue to struggle for their rights”


Regional experiences are varied in terms of higher education training and inclusion of indigenous people in Latin America. IESALC Reports interviewed Vicente Limachi Pérez, coordinator of the Intercultural Bilingual Education Training Program for the Andean Countries (PROEIB-Andes) with headquarters at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Bolivia.


Q: In Latin America, Bolivia is one of the countries with a large indigenous population and a high demand of students from indigenous groups who want to enter universities. What is the experience of PROEIB –Andes within the regional context?

VL: It is true that Bolivia, like many other Latin American countries, has a large indigenous population with a high demand for training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Proeib Andes has been working continuously for twelve years in the area of training, specifically at the level of higher education – at the graduate level. This program comprises various activities. One of them is human resources training in courses such as master's degrees in bilingual intercultural education, a specialized course in bilingual intercultural education, and middle-level technical courses for training indigenous leaders in management and education. Proeib Andes has an international scope. Six countries make up the network: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. We also have students from Mexico, and we will soon have some from Honduras. This means that we have a scope that reaches beyond South America.

Although we began with a network of six countries, the demand of other Central American countries enabled us to also include other countries such as Mexico, and soon, Honduras.

It is a fact that in Bolivia, and also in neighbouring South American countries, access to higher education training by indigenous students is quite low. So much so that there are no explicit policies aimed at opening the doors for indigenous students. However, we have made efforts, beginning with GTZ of Germany. We have established this program in a public university, in principle with an amount of autonomy of academic management. We have been able, to some extent, to take important steps to foster preferential access of young indigenous professionals, principally women. That is, it is an institutional policy to give greater preference to women and to young indigenous students.


Q: How many students are in the master's program, and what are the coverage and graduation rates?

VL: We are now in the fifth class of master's students. That is, we have trained four classes with 132 students from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. Of this number, 110, or 82%, hold degrees. This rate is quite high, and demonstrates the training efficiency of the institution. This is due to the fact that thesis development is curricular in nature, which involves much attention to research.

At this time, with the fifth class of the master's program in EIB, we have 26 students from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

P: When you say that it is a program involving interculturality and bilinguism, what exactly do you mean?

VL: We have students from different countries; and not only from different countries, but from different regions and different indigenous communities. We are currently developing the second version of the EIB specialty course with the attendance of 26 students from 16 indigenous peoples: Kolla, Quechua, Aymara, Mapuche, Yanacona, Kichwa, T`sutujil, Maya sakapulteka, Maya kakchikel, Miskito, those of African descent, Nahuatl, Nahua, Suma (Tuahka), Kuna Yala, Arawak, and Wayúu, coming from 13 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. The indigenous languages that up to this point have been represented in the master's program in the specialization course are: aimara, guaraní, quechua, ashéninka, awajun, maya, nasa yuwe, triqui, nahuatl, mojeño, mapudungun, shawi, shwar, guambiana, miskito, kuna, wayúunaiki, maya, garífuna, arawak, and purhépecha, among others.

Besides the presence of indigenous languages in the classroom, the master's program is a potential area for putting into practice a dialogue of wisdom; that is, given the experiences and knowledge of the indigenous students, we can discuss the pertinence and contribution of indigenous knowledge and the knowledge that is called “universal” in regard to society in general. Here, the program emphasizes the strengthening of the identity of the students, the opening up to other cultural horizons, and the mastery of indigenous languages in both the social and academic areas.

All of this is possible thanks to an interdisciplinary focus that makes it possible to establish a relation between development of the experiences of the programs, theory developed in various areas of knowledge, and the design of pedagogical practices. A key aspect of the program is the systematic expansion of areas of use of indigenous languages: from reflection on experience, the drafting of more theoretical texts, to the creation of pedagogical documents. A methodology based on the construction of knowledge, in a generative processing of cultural and linguistic experience and active learning, including the social negotiation of meaning, makes possible a contextually mediated learning and the training of critical thinkers.


Q: What do the students do after they graduate? In what areas do they work?

VL: Those completing the master's degree work in various local, national, and international entities:

Entity
Argentina
Bolivia
Colombia
Chile
Ecuador
Peru
Total

Governments and ministries

1
8
3
2
4
13
31

Universities and teacher training institutions
-
29
-
3
-
-
 -

Schools and colleges

-
2
2
2
4
5
15

Indigenous organizations, NGOs
-
13
2
3
2
5
25

Independent consultants, doctoral candidates and others
-
8
1
7
2
7
25
Totals
1
60
8
17
12
34
132

In regard to the mid-level technical training course in “Strengthening indigenous leadership and educational management in EIB”, the basic purpose of the course is to strengthen the training of young leadership, many of whom are recognized leaders in their communities. We supply the theoretical and technical instruments, principally oriented toward educational management, which has to do with current national education policy and how they can lead the process. The selection of the young students is the responsibility of indigenous communities, especially the education councils of indigenous villages, who send their young leaders to develop in his course and then return to their communities, exercise functions of leadership in the area of education, regions, and districts – which is what they are doing at this time.


Q: Do you have a special message during this month that is so important for indigenous people?

VL: In Bolivia, indigenous people are gaining positions of power and decision. However, what we notice daily is that we need training in public policy management.

In the area of education we are in a time of changes y creo que las oportunidades que los pueblos indígenas están alcanzando un mejoramiento en términos de acceso y calidad de la educación . In this sense, PROEIB Andes has as a purpose to contribute to the training of indigenous professionals committed to their communities and who contribute to the improvement of the quality of education and the quality of life of indigenous people in general.

I believe that all indigenous people must continue to struggle for their rights and to demand that societies become increasingly democratic and that there is equality at all levels for us.
* Vicente Angelino Limachi Pérez was born in La Paz, Bolivia, 1969. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and languages (1996) and a master's degree in intercultural bilingual education with specialization in planning and management (2001). He teaches at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Bolivia, and is coordinator of two teacher training programs: “Teacher Training in Reading and Text Production in Indigenous Languages: Aimara, Guaraní, and Quechua”, and “Teacher Training in Spanish as a Second Language” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport – UNICEF – PROEIB Andes GTZ (2001-2003). He was a teacher and academic coordinator of the Master's in Intercultural Bi-lingual Education, PROEIB Andes – School of Humanities of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón (2006-2008). Among his most important writings are: Management and Teaching of CL2. Tensions and Discontinuities. PINS – PROEIB Andes. La Paz, Plural Editores (2006); Training in Intercultural Bilingual Education for the Andean Countries (PROEIB Andes), headquarters of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón”. In Daniel Mato (coord.) Cultural Diversity and Interculturality in Higher Education. Experiences in Latin America. IESALC – UNESCO. Venezuela (2008). He has also been a speaker at important workshops and seminars in the region.
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