25 years of Waldorf education in Peru

The Colegio Waldorf is celebrating this year its 25th anniversary. They began in March 1982 with a kindergarten and the first three classes and last year they celebrated their graduating class for the 17th time. The echo from the universities is very positive since they value creativity in solving problems.

Every Monday we offer new parents whose children are not coping with the state school system an introduction to the education and a viewing of the school - and some choose to join us. Today we have 275 children, some of whom are now represent a second generation. Even the Faculty has two former pupils, an art teacher and a Eurythmist.

Our school has the good reputation that it takes difficult children and can ‚heal’ many of them. We have had a number of interesting experiences with this.

Alongside the usual parents evenings and lectures we have a parent school for all parents, in which they can learn to understand what we do with the children and why. One of our main problems is that the children often live in two quite different worlds, at home and in the school. The American lifestyle of many families and the fact that usually both parents have to work, means that the children are often left to look after themselves, often with the help of the television and computer.

Another concern that we have is the traffic and security situation in our city of 8 million people. Because of the many robberies and hostage taking, all the children have to be brought to school. Because of the danger of earthquakes Lima has no subway system, so there are many small buses and general traffic chaos.

The highpoints of our school year include the participation of our pupils in the annual pupil music festival with violin groups from the lower school and our upper school choir; our St John’s festival with the great fire, the meetings of former pupils, the Advents bazaar and the Christmas Plays.

Through collaborations with the other Waldorf schools in Lima, the participation in the big South American Waldorf Conferences and through the involvement of nine schools in the UNESCO Youth Festival in Stuttgart in the summer of 2006, we do not feel isolated.

A great difficulty is the rapidly rising cost of living in Peru. Teachers with children or sick parents have to have second jobs such as sewing, baking or offering private tuition. Even state school teachers have to have two jobs. But despite all the difficulties, we are a harmonious, cheerful community willing to learn and that carries us.

Roswitha Spittler (translated by Martyn Rawson)

Donation key word: 4444 Lima     Donate      Overview      Next report