Paper Antonio Espinoza

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G. Antonio Espinoza, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of History

Virginia Commonwealth University

Teachers, Local Communities, and National Government in the

Departamento of Lima, 1821 - 1905

The purpose of this paper is to explain the political rationale that underlay the way

in which primary schooling was organized in the Departamento of Lima the capital city

and the surrounding provinces from 1821 to 1905. In other words, this paper covers the

period in which public education in Modern Peru was completely or partially

decentralized, and it ends precisely at the moment in which the national government

centralized the administration and financing of public schools. I show that regional,

provincial, and district elites tried to use the growing educational apparatus as a means to

gain and maintain political hegemony and that of equal importance -- patronage was a

key mechanism in this enterprise. The search for political power and the financial

resources associated with it were crucial factors in the real and alleged deficiencies of

primary education. The lack of school organization, the negligence of local officers, and

the incompetence of teachers, were not the exclusive result of decentralization, corruption

and carelessness, as the existing scholarship has argued.1 In order to achieve a deeper

understanding about the performance of educational officers and teachers it is necessary

1 See: Manuel Vicente Villarn, "La Instruccin Primaria en el Per",Revista Universitaria VIII: 2

(September 1913), 223; Felipe Barreda y Laos, "Historia de la Instruccin Pblica en el Per

Independiente", inII. Congreso Internacional de Historia de Amrica (Buenos Aires: Academia Nacional

de la Historia, 1938), III: 216-221; Emilio Barrantes,Historia de la educacin en el Per (Lima: Mosca

Azul, 1989), 63; Enrique Gonzlez-Carr and Virgilio Galdo Gutirrez, "Historia de la Educacin en el

Per", inHistoria del Per. X. Procesos e Instituciones (Lima: Editorial Juan Meja Baca), 81.

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to analyze the nature of their relationships with the local communities where they

worked, as well as with the national government. These relationships were defined not

only by official school regulations and the availability of financial resources, but also by

patronage networks and political conjunctures.

This paper addresses two historiographical paradoxes presented in the scholarship

on nineteenth-century Peru. The first one refers to the opposition between centralism and

decentralization in the organization of the state. While intellectuals in general have

tended to associate decentralism with democratic participation, the studies on the history

of education have blamed decentralization for the problems that existed in public

schools.2 In both cases, scholars have failed to notice that neither centralization nor

decentralization are inherently more democratic or efficient; each of them has its own

advantages and disadvantages according to specific goals and historical conditions.

Historian Carlos Contreras has correctly noted that in Peru, as in other Latin American

countries, centralization has been an aspect of national consolidation and modernization.3

However, in the case of primary schooling, there was no clear-cut break between

decentralization and centralization. The centralized system established in 1905 was

indeed built on the relative progresses made by the previously-existing decentralized

network of schools.

The second historiographical paradox is related to the alleged clientelista nature

of the Peruvian state. "Patronage" orclientelismo has been defined as the relationship

between a patron and a client, in which the former provides protection and material

2 For a historical overview on centralism and decentralization, see Carlos Contreras, "Centralismo y

Decentralizacin en la Historia del Per Independiente", inEl Aprendizaje del Capitalismo. Estudios deHistoria Econmica y Social del Per Republicano. Estudios Histricos 37(Lima: Instituto de Estudios

Peruanos, 2004), 273-305.3 Contreras, "Centralismo y Decentralizacin", 275-277.

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benefits in exchange for political support from the latter.4 Previous studies tend to depict

patronage relationships as inimical to the development of a bureaucratic apparatus.5 This

perspective fails to recognize that the state was a reality that had to be gradually built,

and that the assignment of government positions and funds through patron-client ties

contributed to the state's expansion.6 At the same time, patronage cannot be interpreted

only as a selfish strategy for individual or partisan gain. Certainly, its main beneficiaries

were the national and local elites who controlled the patronage networks, and its

outcomes were far from equitable.7 Nevertheless, while official bureaucracy was in the

process of construction, patronage represented a means for the distribution of resources

both at the national and local levels. In the specific case of education, patronage was a

key mechanism for the allocation of public monies, the appointment and paying of

teachers and, ultimately, the expansion of schooling.

This paper is organized chronologically and divided in three periods according to

the changes in the school funding structure. These transformations affected the

relationship of national government and local communities with schools and,

consequently, the living and working conditions of preceptores. Up to the 1850s, local

communities paid for most schools, using a combination of municipal funds and private

contributions. Both urban and rural schools tended to have quite an irregular existence,

while the requisites for teaching were minimal, and many of those who taught did so only

on a temporary basis. From the 1850s to 1873, national authorities provided regular

4 See: Cotler, Clases, Estado y Nacin en el Per (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1978), 74; Richard

Graham,Patronage and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Brazil(Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press,

1990), 2.5 Cotler, Clases, 69-70, 87.6 See for instance Graham,Patronage, 232.7 Manuel Burga and Alberto Flores-Galindo,Apogeo y Crisis de la Repblica Aristocrtica, 4th edition

(Lima: Rikchay Per, 1987), 83-85.

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subsidies to the new "municipal schools", which were under the direct administration of

local governments. The national government made efforts to exercise more supervision

over private and public schools, but the bureaucratic apparatus was still insufficiently

strong. At the same time, teachers continued to be very dependent from local

communities, and they frequently privileged local demands over those of the national

authorities. From 1873 to 1905, the national government suspended subsidies for

municipal schools, while trying to exercise larger supervision over public education.

Provincial and local governments resisted the combination of limited financial support

and increased administrative pressure. In the highly- charged political context that

characterized the second half of the 1870s, this new arrangement led to confrontations

between different levels of government, and teachers and local communities. In the rural

areas most schools reverted to the pre-1850s administrative and financial situation. In the

capital city, teachers enjoyed more stability and began to develop an increasing

professional identity. By the late-nineteenth century, a number of educators expressed

their support to a potential centralization of schooling because they expected it to

improve their professional, social, and economic conditions.

1) Educational decentralization, 1821-1850:

Argentinean General Jos de San Martn invaded coastal Peru in 1820, captured

Lima a year later, and imposed independence on the until then ambivalent local elites.

San Martn failed to accomplish a definitive victory over the royalist forces that escaped

to the southern highlands, and was also unable to create a constitutional monarchy as he

projected. In 1822 San Martn resigned power and rendered control of the pro-

independence forces to Venezuelan General Simn Bolvar who defeated the royalist

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army two years later. After a failed attempt to create a federation of Andean countries

composed by Peru, Bolivia, and Great Colombia (Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela),

Bolvar left Lima in 1827. The early republican years were dominated by constant

fighting among military caudillos. Conservative General Agustn Gamarra ruled the

country from 1829 to 1833, being succeeded by Liberal General Luis Jos de Orbegoso

from 1833 to 1835. In 1836 Orbegoso allied with Bolivian General Andrs de Santa Cruz

to create the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Chilean armed intervention

supported by internal opposition destroyed the confederation in 1839 and led to a new

presidency of Agustn Gamarra. In 1841 Gamarra invaded Bolivia and was killed in

battle, leaving Peru in chaos and civil war. General Ramn Castilla came to power in

1845 establishing a certain degree of order and stability, partly based on the beginnings

of the guano export economy.

In these early postindependence decades the Peruvian state was weak, ineffective,

and very dependent from local interests. The fragility of the national government

stemmed from political, economic, and institutional factors. The Creole elite based in

Lima tried to sustain its political legitimacy on a contradictory foundation: it claimed the

principle of popular sovereignty while keeping significant parts of the population

(Indians, slaves, and women) excluded from citizenship. The overall economic situation

of the country was critical because of the destruction caused by the wars of independence

and the conflicts among caudillos, the growing fiscal debt, and the lack of capital.

National authorities had an ambivalent relationship with both rural elites and caudillos,

struggling with them for political power albeit depending on them for the collection of

revenue and military support. The national government, countryside elites, and caudillos

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competed to appoint local public officers, and relied on patronage networks and forms of

coercion to gather taxes, spread information, and connect with Indian society; as well as

to maintain some internal order, recruit soldiers, and obtain supplies.8

In these early republican years the administration, funding, and curricular

decisions of primary education in Peru were largely decentralized. The national

government made attempts to exercise some degree of supervision over primary schools

but it had limited results due to the lack of financial resources and the constant

institutional and regulatory changes. Although the authorities based in Lima issued

isolated laws on various aspects of schooling since 1821, the first educational code for

the capital city was only introduced in 1836. As we will see below, there was no

educational code of national scope until 1850. In 1837 the government created the

Ministry of Public Instruction, Public Assistance and Ecclesiastical Matters. In 1845 the

Public Instruction section of this institution was transferred to the Ministry of

Government and eleven years later it passed to the Ministry of Justice.9 Along these years

the national government struggled to sustain a few public schools in the capital city, and

it generally encouraged the Catholic clergy, local governments, and private

entrepreneurs, to open their own schools. Sometimes, national authorities provided

subsidies to schools run by the Church, local authorities, and private individuals, but

these frequently were short-lived commitments. The sponsor of each school hired and

fired teachers according to its own preferences, and supervised them according to its own

8 Peter F. Klarn,Peru. Society and Nationhood in the Andes (New York Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 2000), 134-138, 141-142.9 A separate Ministry of Education was created in 1935. See: "Creando un Ministerio de Instruccin

pblica, Beneficencia y Negocios Eclesisticos", February 4, 1837; "Asignando los ramos anexos a cada

ministerio", May 24, 1845; "Estableciendo la organizacin de los ministerios", December 4; "Asignando

los ramos anexos a cada ministerio", May 24, 1845; "Estableciendo la organizacin de los ministerios",

December 4, 1856, Archivo Digital de la Legislacin del Per.

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standards. The national government also had difficulties to impose homogenous methods

and contents, and political authorities did not provide the incipient educational

bureaucracy with a decided support.

Given the economic vicissitudes that the authorities based in Lima had to face

after independence, it made sense for them to rely on the Catholic Church for the

provision of free schooling. However different sectors of the church had different

responses according to their own interests. As early as 1822 General Jos de San Martn

decreed that the religious convents of the capital city had to open free elementary

schools. Although the decision was reiterated in 1823, three years later only four out of

the seventeen convents existing in the capital city were running elementary schools.10

Thus, it is not surprising that the national government had to issue similar decrees in

1830, 1839, and 1849.11 In 1840, an article published in Lima's newspaperEl Comercio

encouraged the new archbishop to increase the educational collaboration between the

Church and the state. The writer criticized religious convents for not being dedicated

enough to the instruction of poor children. In the opinion of the writer, such an

instruction would contribute to improve the political stability of the country.12

10 "Decreto disponiendo que haya escuelas primarias gratuitas en todos los conventos de regulares",

February 23 1822, in Gaceta del Gobierno de Lima Independiente II: 16, facsimile edition (Buenos Aires:

Ministerio de Educacin Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1952), 341-342; "Decreto disponiendo que se

establezcan escuelas primarias en las porteras de los conventos", August 16 1825, in Juan Oviedo,

Coleccin de Leyes, Decretos y Ordenes publicadas en el PerIV. Ministerio de Beneficencia,

Instruccin Pblica y Justicia (Lima: Felipe Bailly, 1862), 12. The convents that fulfilled the decree were

San Agustn, San Francisco, Recoleta Dominica and La Merced. See: Archivo General de la Nacin., J-3,

181: 2, 1826; Plan general de los conventos y nmero de los religiosos de este arzobispado in Antonine

Tibesar, The Supression of the Religious Orders in Peru, 1826-1830 or the King versus the PeruvianFriars: the King won, The Americas 39: 2 (October 1982), 238-239.11

"Circular previniendo a los prefectos que exciten a los gobernadores eclesisticos para que cuiden que en

los conventos se establezcan las escuelas de primeras letras de que se encarga el decreto de 23 de febrero de

1823", May 11, 1830, and "Oficio disponiendo que se obligue a los prelados de los conventos a establecer

en ellos escuelas primarias para la enseanza de los nios pobres", November 28, 1839, in Oviedo,

Coleccin de Leyes, 17, and 24; "Expediente formado a raz de la falta de locales para las escuelas de

primeras letras de la capital", 1850, AGN, R-J, Prefecturas, Lima, Leg. 121.12 "Interior. Ministerio de instruccin pblica, beneficencia y negocios eclesisticos",El Comercio I: 202

(January 10, 1840), 3.

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It is safe to speculate that part of the reason why the religious orders did not show

more interest in opening schools was because these were supposed to be free. As a

consequence, regular priests did not have a material incentive to devote themselves to

teaching. In contrast, many priests who left their orders and became secular in the post-

independence years requested permission from ecclesiastical authorities to begin working

as preceptores. For these "secularized" priests teaching was a potential means to earn a

living once they did not have the support of a religious order.13 For instance, in 1827

priest Manuel Valenzuela asked the national government to be appointed teacher of the

public school in the town of Chancay. This school was funded using the property of a

Franciscan convent that had been closed by the government. Valenzuela belonged to the

Dominican Order, but wanted to become a secular priest. The authorities accepted

Valenzuela's request and granted him an annual salary of 300 pesos. A few months later

Valenzuela resigned this teaching position because he considered that the salary was too

low.14

National authorities also relied on municipalities for the provision of schooling

and the supervision of teaching.15 The national government expected municipal

authorities to sustain schools using their own monies and, complementarily, funds that

could be provided by the state. In the first case municipalities resorted to the income

produced by the taxes on edible goods (sisa), trade (mojonazgo), and transit (peaje and

13 The Archivo Arzobispal de Lima holds a number of requests presented by secularized priests who wanted

authorization to teach, see: AAL, Orden de San Francisco XII: 39, 1826; Orden de San Agustn XXI: 1,1827; Orden de Nuestra Seora de la Merced XIX: 107, 1827; Orden de Predicadores de Santo Domingo

XIX: 26, 1826 and 51, 1826-28, and XIX-A: 12, 1828.14 File 18, 1827-28, AGN, J-3, Leg. 181.15 "Ley orgnica de municipalidades de 13 de junio de 1828", in Juan Oviedo, Coleccin de Leyes,

Decretos y Ordenes publicadas en el Per desde el ao de 1821 hasta 31 de diciembre de 1859. Reimpresa

por orden de materias por... Tomo II: Ministerio de Gobierno, Culto y Polica. Lima: Felipe Bailly, 1861,

373-374.

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pontazgo). In the second case the national government usually granted land that had

previously belonged to religious convents. Municipal authorities could sell or rent this

land, and use the income to pay for schools. These two sources of income could not

guarantee the regular functioning of schools, even in the capital city. In the early 1830s,

the city council of Lima had to pay not only for municipal salaries, legal fees, and public

lighting. The council also had to take care of the salary of the director of Lancasterian

schools, as well as the cost of the supplies for the prefectura, the higher judicial court of

the departamento, and the public attorney. The municipality complained repeatedly to

national authorities that it was difficult to afford all of these expenses.

16

In the case of

land supposedly earmarked for schooling, there were cases when the cash-strapped state

sold this property and used the money for other purposes. 17 Another problem with the

estates destined to education was that they were subjected to the common disputes over

land. For instance, in 1829 the mayor of Yauli (then part of the departamento of Lima),

complained to regional authorities that an individual named Dolores Jimnez had usurped

the land that the community used to pay for its school. When consulted by regional

authorities, the subprefecto defended Jimnez, claiming he was the legitimate owner of

the land. As to further discredit the mayor's claim the subprefecto added that the local

school was actually paid by the parents of students.18

Both in the urban and rural areas there were some parents who had the will and

the means to pay for schools. In 1837, the subprefecto of Caete stated that there were

16Gaceta III: 49 (December 11, 1822), 777.El Republicano 56 (December 16, 1826), 252-253. A.G.N., J-

3, 175: 85, 1833; R-J, Lima, Leg. 118.17 See the complain presented to the national government by the congressional representative of Hunuco

(Central Andes) in 1828: Representacin que ha dirigido al Supremo Poder Ejecutivo, el Diputado por la

Provincia de Hunuco,El Telgrafo de Lima IV: 25 (January 30, 1828), 4.18 "Comisin de Instruccin. Peticin de una escuela para Yauli" (1829), Archivo Histrico Municipal de

Lima, Junta Municipal Instruccin, Salud, Farmacia 1808-1836.

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four schools in this province: one of them was funded with toll fees; another one was paid

with a combination of toll fees and parent's contributions; the third one was sustained

with the income produced by rented pasture hillocks; and the last one was paid

exclusively by parents.19 Eight years later the subprefecto of the same province noted that

there were six schools funded with local and national monies plus seven schools paid

exclusively by parents.20 The funding that parents could provide to schooling was no

guarantee of regularity or educational standards that the state could find satisfactory. For

example in 1827 the subprefecto of Yauyos complained that the population of his

province which was mostly indigenous -- could barely hire teachers for a yearly salary

of one hundred to one hundred and fifty pesos. According to the subprefecto, these were

teachers of "little fortune and intelligence", who limited themselves to teaching the

alphabet and prayers to children.21 Some years later, in 1840, the subprefecto of Canta

informed that the only school that existed in the provincial capital was funded using the

income produced by a local mill. According to the subprefecto the local teacher had the

qualities that "can be afforded with such a small endowment" as the school had. The

subprefecto added that the other towns of the province had schools sustained by local

parents. In the subprefecto's opinion the "fickle and meager" payments made by these

"wretched" parents could only attract teachers of little talent.22

Municipal governments were abolished from 1836 to 1856. Initially President

Luis Jos de Orbegoso closed them temporarily and transferred the administration of their

19 "Provincia de Caete, Departamento de Lima. Estado que manifiesta el nmero de escuelas que hay enesta provincia" (April 1837), AGN, R-J, Instruccin, Leg. 175.20 "Subprefectura de la provincia de Caete. Razn circunstanciada del nmero de escuelas de primeras

letras" (August 1845), AGN, R-J, Instruccin, Leg. 120.21 Expediente 102 (1827), AGN, J-3, Instruccin, Leg. 175.22 "Nota del subprefecto de la provincia de Canta de 25 del prximo pasado relativa a las escuelas existents

en los pueblos de la comprensin de dicha provincia" (July 25 1840), AGN, R-J, Prefecturas, Lima, Leg.

120.

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educational funds to "Departmental Offices of Revenues and of Instruction and Welfare"

(Administraciones Departamentales de Rentas y de Instruccin y Beneficencia).23After

the fall of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation in 1839, and the defeat of Orbegoso and his

ally General Andrs de Santa Cruz, President Agustn Gamarra shut municipal

governments indefinitely. The responsibilities of municipal authorities were transferred to

theprefectos of the departamentos, provincialsubprefectos, and districtgobernadores, all

of which were appointed by the Executive branch. Gamarra also appointed sndicos

procuradores or agents who participated in the administration of the local revenues and

expenses formerly managed by city and town councils. Sndicos were specifically

entrusted with taking care of local schools.24 It is difficult to assess whether the situation

of public schooling improved or worsened while municipalities were closed, due to the

scarcity of local information, especially in the case of the rural areas. In view of the

available evidence, it seems that schools continued having an irregular existence with

limited official support and supervision. In 1844, for example, the Director of Primary

Instruction of Lima Jos Navarrete complained to the Ministry of Justice that it was

difficult to collect the revenue produced by the various properties granted to the city's

public schools. The director stated that there were nineteen persons who occupied these

properties but only four of them paid their rent on time. Navarrete argued that delinquent

tenants already owed fifteen thousand pesos to his office, but the Direction did not have

enough funds to sue them. Therefore, Navarrete asked the ministry to pay for the legal

23 "D. 15 de Febrero de 1836. Declarando en receso todas las juntas municipales de la Repblica hasta la

conclusin de la guerra", Archivo Digital de la Legislacin en el Per, URL =

/http://www.congreso.gob.pe/out_of_domain.asp?URL=http%3A//www.leyes.congreso.gob.pe/24

"Constitucin Poltica de la Repblica Peruana dada por el Congreso General el da 10 de noviembre de

1839 en Huancayo"; "Determinando las atribuciones de los sndicos procuradores", December 12, 1839;

"D. 20 de Abril de 1853. Declarando que los sndicos se hallan sujetos a los prefectos en las capitales de

departamento y a los subprefectos en las de provincia", ADLP.

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expenses.25 A few years later, in 1848, the preceptores of the public schools in Callao

complained to the president that, despite their dedication, they had been unpaid for a

while. The teachers "begged" the president to intervene so that they were paid their

salaries.26

Although during the early post-independence decades primary schooling was

largely decentralized, the national government made a few lukewarm attempts to exercise

some degree of supervision over schools in the capital city. In 1825 the government of

Simn Bolvar created the General Bureau of Education (Direccin General de Estudios),

a board presided by the rector of the University of San Marcos. It also included the

principals of the colleges of San Carlos, Santo Toribio, and Independencia, as well as the

deans of the bar association and the protomedicato (a tribunal that regulated the health-

related professions). The General Bureau had to watch over the administration and

funding of schools, propose means to increase their number, and suggest reforms to

improve their condition. It seems the General Direction was largely ineffectual, due in

part to its collegiate and unremunerated character, and in 1836 it was declared to have

purely advisory functions.27 In 1826 Bolvar's government also created the General

Direction of Mining, Agriculture, Public Instruction and Museum. Engineer Mariano de

Rivero y Ustriz was appointed director general, while Nicols Fernndez de Pirola y

Flores was made deputy director. The performance of Rivero and Pirola came under

public criticism, bringing them to publish an account of what they saw as their

accomplishments by early 1828. Among these they mentioned the reformation of the

25 "Expediente promovido por Jos Francisco Navarrete, Director de Instruccin Primaria, pidiendo que se

obligara a pagar a todo deudor del ramo de instruccin" (1844), AGN, J-3, Instruccin, Leg. 182.26 "Splica a S.E.", EC 2581 (January 21 1848), 3.27 Jorge Basadre,Historia de la Repblica del Per 1822-1933, 7th ed.(Lima: Editorial Universitaria,

1983), I: 132; "Disponiendo que la direccin de estudios sea consultada en materias facultativas", August

1836, Oviedo, Coleccin de Leyes, IV: 111.

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Lancasterian school in Lima, the establishment of similar schools in the interior, and the

translation and publication of three different educational books.28 After the fall of

President Jos de La Mar in 1829 the national government abolished the General

Direction of Mining, and Rivero and Pirola exiled themselves in Chile.

One of the key characters in the early governmental efforts to exercise supervision

over primary schools in Lima was secular priest Jos Francisco Navarrete. During

Navarrete's long tenure as an educational officer the national government gradually

increased his responsibilities and prerogatives. In 1822 he was appointed as an aide to

Scottish missionary James Thompson, the founder and principal of the first Normal

School for preceptores. When Thompson left in 1824 Navarrete became the principal of

the school. In 1826 he was made regente or supervisor of the two Lancasterian schools

that existed in Lima. In 1833, he was appointed director of the newly-created Department

of Primary Instruction ( Departamento de Instruccin Primaria). As such, he was

responsible for managing the official funds allotted to public primary education, and

supervising the workings of public and private schools. In 1836, the department was

turned into the General Bureau of Classrooms and Schools (Direccin General de Aulas

y Escuelas), and Navarrete was made its director. In addition to his earlier

responsibilities, Navarrete was put in charge of examining aspiring teachers and granting

them proficiency certifications. He could recommend teachers for appointments at public

schools, and suggest the Executive branch to remove those who did not fulfill their

duties.29 Finally, in 1840 the General Bureau was renamed Bureau of Primary Instruction

(Direccin de Instruccin Primaria). Navarrete was appointed its director and, besides

28 Razn que manifiesta los trabajos de la Direccin General de Minera e Inspeccin General de

Instruccin Pblica en el ao de 1827,El Telgrafo de Lima IV: 18 (January 22, 1828), 4.29 Decreto de 18 de noviembre de 1833. Arreglando la instruccin primaria de la capital, and "Decreto de

28 de noviembre de 1836. Reglamento de escuelas", in Oviedo, Coleccin, IV: 165-166, 170-171.

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his previous responsibilities, he was also entrusted with looking after good teaching and

morals in schools, presiding over the exams of public-school students, and personally

removing those public teachers who did not perform well.30 Apparently, Navarrete

remained in office until 1850 when the new educational code closed the Bureau of

Primary Instruction.

Navarrete's performance in office illustrates some of the factors that generally

interfered with the fulfillment of official educational regulations in this period: the

ambivalent situation of preceptores within local communities, the indecisive support from

political authorities to educational ones, and the influence of patronage networks.

Teachers faced the dilemma of following the regulations issued by a national government

that provided them with limited material support, or responding to the demands of local

communities which in many cases paid for their salaries. In the early post-independence

years, school teachers had to decide whether implementing the methodological and

curricular innovations introduced by the new republican authorities, or maintaining the

customary teaching practices to which local parents were used.

The failed attempt to implement the Lancasterian Method in Lima during the

1820s provides an example of the divided adherences of teachers and the indecisive

support that political authorities provided to educational ones. The "Lancasterian",

"Mutual", or "Monitorial" Method was a pedagogical approach invented by British

pedagogue Joseph Lancaster in the late-18th century. According to traditional methods a

single teacher lectured, drilled, and examined students one by one. In contrast, the

Lancasterian Method contended that a single teacher could instruct a large number of

30 "D. 10 de Febrero de 1840. Nombrando Director de Instruccin Primaria al Dr. D. Francisco Navarrete y

sealndose sus atribuciones", ADLP.

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children simultaneously, with the aid of a few student-teachers or monitores. Once the

teacher had delivered his lecture, the monitors led the other students organized both

according to their age and capacity into repeating and memorizing the lesson. After a

series of drills, monitors had to examine their classmates.31 In the early post-

independence years politicians and intellectuals all over Latin America encouraged the

use of the Lancasterian Method because it was supposed to be both effective and

inexpensive.

In Peru both General Jos de San Martn (1821-22) and General Simn Bolvar

(1824-27) tried to promote the Lancasterian Method with limited results. In 1822 San

Martn founded the Central Normal School in Lima to train teachers in the new

method. The school was established at the former convent of Santo Toms under the

direction of British missionary James Thomson. In 1825 Bolvar ordered the

establishment of a female Lancasterian school in the hospital of San Lzaro, as well as

the foundation of normal schools in all the capital cities of the departamentos. 32 A year

later the government mandated the use of the Lancasterian Method in all the schools of

the country. Proficiency in the new approach was a requisite to obtain a teaching license,

and the preceptores of the capital city had to attend the Normal school twice per week to

learn it.33

31

See anonymous article inEl Instructor(February 10, 1847) quoted in Juan Carlos Huaraj, "El estudio delas Primeras Letras y la Escuela Central Lancasteriana. Lima 1821-1840", in Csar Mexicano and Juan

Carlos Huaraj,Educacin y libros en el Per, poca colonial y republicana (Lima: Universidad NacionalMayor de San Marcos Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, 2005), 36-37.32 A.G.N., J-3, 181: 7, 1825-34; and "Decreto disponiendo que en todas las capitales de departamento se

establezca una escuela normal, 31 de enero de 1825", Oviedo, IX: 9. See also: Juan Fonseca, Sin

educacin no hay sociedad: Las escuelas lancasterianas y la educacin primaria en los inicios de la

Repblica (1822-1826), in Scarlett OPhelan Godoy (Ed.),La Independencia en el Per. De los Borbones

a Bolvar(Lima: Pontificia Universidad Catlica del Per, 2001), 283.33 "D. 9 de noviembre de 1926. Reglamentando las escuelas lancasterianas", ADLP.

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A group of Limeo teachers objected to these measures arguing that the

traditional methods were easier and more effective than the Lancasterian Method, so

much so that "even female teachers" could make good use of it. According to the

discontent teachers, given the evident superiority of the traditional method parents did not

"approve" of the Lancasterian one and many students of the Normal school preferred to

drop rather than studying it.34 The claimants added that having to attend the Normal

school in order to be trained in the Lancasterian approach was inconvenient, as they

would have to find a substitute to lecture for them, and that its full application required

supplies that they could not afford to buy. Although the principal of the Normal Jos

Navarrete dismissed the teachers' arguments and the government reiterated its decree

there is no evidence that the teachers of the capital city complied. In the case of the

surrounding provinces, in 1837 all of the teachers of Canta (50), Yauyos (27), and Caete

(4) were still using the traditional method. In 1843, only one of the three primary teachers

in Ica was using the Lancasterian Method; two years later half of the fourteen schools in

Chancay used the traditional methods.35 Thus, the adoption of the new method promoted

by the national government was slow and incomplete at best.

The refusal of the teachers of Lima to adopt the Lancasterian Method was not

motivated by ignorance, corruption, or neglect, as traditional historiography would claim.

Their opposition to this specific innovation was born out of pedagogical, practical, and

34 "Expediente formado a raz de la solicitud de los preceptores de primeras letras de Lima, para que no se

altere en las escuelas el antiguo mtodo de enseanza, y se les excuse de la asistencia a instruirse en laEscuela Lancasteriana", December 1827, AGN, J-3, Leg. 181.35 Estado de las escuelas pertenecientes a la provincia de Yauyos, March 31, 1837; Estado de las

escuelas pertenecientes a la provincia de Canta, April 18, 1837; Estado que manifiesta el nmero de

escuelas que hay en esta provincia (Caete), April 21, 1837, A.G.N., R-J, Instruccin, 175. Razn de los

establecimientos de instruccin pblica que existen en la provincia de Ica, October 12, 1843; Razn de

las escuelas existentes en la provincia de Chancay..., August 1, 1845, A.G.N., R-J, Prefecturas, Lima, 120,

1838-18?.

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commercial reasons. The Limeo educators were used to the traditional method, they

found it easier to apply, and were unwilling to leave their schools unattended while they

became trained in the Lancasterian approach. More importantly, they considered that

attending to the educational demands of parents was a higher priority than implementing

an innovation sponsored by the government. In fact, they found it to be such a legitimate

justification that they included it among the arguments that they presented to national

authorities. This may have contributed to the hesitancy of these officers to enforce the

implementation of the new method.

The indecisive support of the national authorities was an issue that early

educational bureaucrats like Jos Francisco Navarrete also had to contend with. In some

cases, this official ambivalence stemmed from the loyalties imposed by patronage

networks. A good example of this is the difficulty that Navarrete had to keep preceptor

Jos Morales out of a public teaching position, in spite of the frequent conflicts that they

had with each other. In 1825 as part of the efforts of the post-independence government

to promote the Lancasterian Method political authorities sent Morales to London to

receive training in the new teaching approach.36 Morales returned to Lima around a year

later and the government appointed him as main teacher at the Central Normal School. In

1827 Navarrete then supervisor of the two Lancasterian schools of Lima expressed

his dissatisfaction with Morales' performance and asked the government to remove him.

Navarrete was vague in his petition, arguing that Morales run the Normal in a "low and

despicable" manner. The government chose to ignore Navarrete's petition and Morales

36 In 1825 Morales was registered as a student at the Borough Road Training College of London, which was

administered by the British and Foreign School Society formerly the Society for Promoting the

Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor. This information was kindly provided to me by Helen

Betteridge, Assistant Archivist, Heritage Builds Bridges Project The British and Foreign School Society

(personal communication, February 14, 2006).

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kept his job.37 A year later Morales published an ad in English addressed to British and

American parents who resided in Lima. Although Morales held a public position in a

school funded by the government he announced that he was taking private boarding

students at the Normal and promised to provide them with "comfortable"

accommodation.38 In spite of Morales' irregular conduct the government took no

immediate measures against him.

Four years later, in February 1832, Morales seemed to temporarily lose favor with

political authorities. The prefecto of the department informed Navarrete that Morales had

to cease immediately in his functions because there were several complains about his

performance at the Normal. The prefecto also mentioned that Morales was being

prosecuted but provided no specifics about the criminal case.39 While Morales was out of

office he was replaced by another teacher who collected his salary. Less than a year later

Morales was reinstated and he asked the government to be paid the money that he had not

received in the previous months. The government asked the municipality to pay Morales,

but the city council argued that his salary had been given to the teacher who had replaced

him. The government then ordered the Office of Suppressed Convents to pay Morales,

and this was effectively fulfilled.40 That same year Navarrete presented his resignation to

the position of supervisor of the Lancasterian schools of the city, arguing that Morales

37 "Expediente formado a raz de la solicitud de los preceptores de primeras letras de Lima".38 Education,El Telgrafo de Lima V: 45 (Lima, May 30, 1828), 439 "Oficio del Prefecto Departamental a Francisco Navarrete, Director de las Escuelas de Instruccin

Primaria, comunicando una resolucin suprema venida del Ministerio de Gobierno," February 12, 1832,

AGN, J-3, Lima, Leg. 175].40 "El Prefecto de Lima y D. Jos Morales, preceptor de primeras letras" (November 1832 February

1833), AGN, J-3, Lima, Leg. 175.

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promoted "insubordination" against him, but the government refused to accept

Navarrete's demission.41

Morales managed to stay in office in spite of complains against him because he

had powerful patrons and Navarrete was fully aware of this fact. In a letter written in

1837 Navarrete stated:

[Morales] has always looked forpadrinos close to the government to protect

him, who have supported a man who does not deserve it, bringing very serious

harm to the helpless youth, and causing surprise in everyone42

Apparently, Morales was able to gain protection from political authorities due to his

participation in electoral politics and his support to specific caudillos. We know about his

electoral activities because in 1834 he requested a leave of absence from the Normal

school, arguing that he had been appointed as a member of the electoral college of Santa

Ana parish in the capital city. More illustratively, in 1836 the newspaperEl Telgrafo de

Limapraised Morales because he had carefully preserved a portrait of General Andrs de

Santa Cruz that had been presented to the Normal school in 1827. When Santa Cruz

became Supreme Protector of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation in 1836, Morales paraded

to Lima's presidential palace accompanied by his students, in order to hand over the

portrait to General Jos de Orbegoso, president of Northern Peru and collaborator of

Santa Cruz. In view of the loyalty of Morales, El Telgrafo encouraged the government

to reward him.43 It is possible that once the Confederation fell apart in 1839, Morales

41 "Expediente formado acerca de la renuncia del Presbtero Jos Francisco Navarrete, a la Direccin de laEscuela Central Lancasteriana, debido a la insubordinacin promovida en su contra por el preceptor Jos

Morales. El fiscal recomend no aceptar la renuncia en vista de los servicios cumplidos por Navarrete",

(October 1832), AGN, J-3, Lima, Leg. 175.42 Letter from Jos Francisco Navarrete to the Director of Beneficencia, March 11 1837, in "Junta de

Beneficencia de Lima. Actas: 1836 1838", Biblioteca Nacional de Chile.43 The article inEl Telgrafo de Lima no. 489 was quoted in Variedades,El Yanacocha (facsimile

edition) I: 52 (June 11 1836), 2-3, in Juan Gualberto Valdivia,El Misti, El Chili y el Yanacocha. Arequipa:

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again lost some of his standing. He was still the principal of the Normal School in 1837,

but by 1840 he had been replaced by another teacher. Morales was not left unemployed

as by then he run his own private school.44

2) Subsidies and supervision, 1850-1873:

From the second half of the 1840s to the early 1870s Peru experienced a period of

relative economic and political stability. This situation was largely due to increased fiscal

revenues provided by the exportation of guano a natural fertilizer to international

markets. Insurrections and military coups continued happening but they were not as

frequent as during the early decades of the nineteenth century. President General Ramn

Castilla (1845-51, 1855-62) was able to carry on a number of institutional and economic

reforms which included beginning the payment of the internal and external debts (1846),

implementing the first national budget (1846-47), and introducing the first national

educational code (1850). Castilla endorsed the election of his associate General Jos

Rufino Echenique (1852-1854) who quickly became unpopular and was blamed of

mismanaging public funds. Castilla, allied with Liberal politicians, led a successful

rebellion against his former collaborator. In order to satisfy his Liberal supporters Castilla

abolished the Indian head tax and emancipated slaves (1854). Once back in power

Castilla issued the second educational code of national scope (1855) and reestablished

municipal governments (1856).

Castilla's successor General Miguel San Romn (1862-63) died in office and was

substituted by Vice-president General Juan Antonio Pezet (1863-65). Shortly after Pezet

took power Spanish immigrant workers rioted in a hacienda in northern Peru and one of

Universidad Nacional San Agustn, 1996.44 See Jos Gregorio Paredes, Calendario y Gua de Forasteros de Lima, para el ao de 1839... (Lima:

Imprenta de Jos Masas, 1837); Eduardo Carrasco, Calendario y Gua de Forasteros de la Repblica

Peruana para el ao de 1841 (Lima: Imprenta de Instruccin Primaria, 1840).

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them was killed in the repression that ensued. In retaliation a Spanish fleet that was

supposedly performing scientific research in the South Pacific seized the guano-

producing Chincha Islands (1865). Pezet reached a diplomatic agreement with the

Spanish government that enraged military leaders. Colonel Mariano Ignacio Prado

deposed Pezet and repelled the Spanish fleet in the Battle of May 2nd, 1866. Later that

year increased loss of land in the hands of hacendados and growing fiscal pressure caused

an Indigenous rebellion in Huancan (Puno) led by early Indigenista politician Colonel

Juan Bustamante. Prado's troops repressed the rebellion violently and executed

Bustamante. In 1868 Conservative Colonel Jos Balta ousted Prado from power and held

the presidency until 1872. Balta's government was characterized by a number of public

works including a great expansion of the railroad network.

Since the late 1840s the Peruvian central government gradually introduced a

number of reforms into the state apparatus. Among these were the implementation of

national budgets, the reestablishment of municipal governments, and the commitment to

complement the local funding of schools. These measures gave the central government

the opportunity to administer public finances in a more organized fashion, as well as to

distribute part of the revenue produced by the guano export boom among the regions and

provinces of the interior. Through this redistribution of public monies, national

authorities could establish closer alliances with local elites, and try to exercise larger

power over local communities.45 In educational terms, the national government expected

to impose a single curriculum and official teaching standards, in exchange for material

support. However, by placing the administration of public schools and the supervision of

45 Peter Klarn,Peru. Society and Nationhood in the Andes (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000),

162-164.

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private ones under regional, provincial, and district governments, national authorities

rendered most control over day-to-day schooling to local elites. These used national

subsidies to increase the number of schools, teachers, and students, but also to reproduce

and strengthen their own patronage networks. The growing body of public teachers

sometimes tried to play out national and local authorities according to their own agendas,

with ambivalent results. More importantly, both public and private teachers developed an

increasing professional identity expressed particularly when they questioned official

attempts to import foreign educators.

The introduction of the first national budgets during Ramn Castilla's early

presidential period represented both an attempt to adequate the management of public

finances to the goals of the central state, as well as an effort to redistribute some of the

revenue produced by guano trade. Although national authorities had declared the

exploitation of guano a state monopoly since 1841, the government needed to assert its

legitimate ownership over this natural resource while providing concrete benefits to local

elites and their communities. This was a particularly pressing concern for Castilla's first

regime as it was threatened by rival caudillos. Among these was General Jos Flix

Iguan who revolted in February 1846 and again in July 1848 with the apparent plan of

separating the southern provinces of Moquegua, Tacna, and Tarapac from the rest of

Per. Although the government managed to quell both uprisings its control over these

provinces was not completely sound.46 On November 1846 the subprefecto of Moquegua

auctioned the guano deposited on the provincial coast. The right to extract and trade the

guano was purchased by the community of Puquina, and part of the revenue was to be

used to fund the public school of the town of Coalaque. Two years later, the Executive

46 Basadre,Historia de la Repblica, 3: 117-118.

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branch annulled the auction carried on by the subprefecto. The Executive expressed that

the central state was the legitimate owner of guano deposits and, therefore, Puquina could

extract guano for its own use, but was not entitled to trade with it. The Executive also

ordered the Junta of Beneficencia of Tacna, which depended from the national

government, to provide the funds for the school of Coalaque.47

The government had both practical and political difficulties to implement the first

national budgets. It was a new procedure and the administrative apparatus was weak; and

the Executive and members of the Legislative did not necessarily agree on the same

priorities. The Executive submitted the budget for 1846-47 to congress too late and it was

applied without parliamentary approval. In preparation for the implementation of the

budget for 1848-49 the government ordered local officers to deposit their revenues at the

treasury offices of the departamentos. According to historian Jorge Basadre, the

Legislative did not study the budget thoroughly before approving it, leaving departmental

authorities without sufficient funds. In order to repair this mistake, in mid-May 1848 the

government earmarked a special sum for schools, hospitals, and prisons to the treasuries

of the departamentos. The prefectos, who managed these treasury offices, would decide

how to distribute these funds; in the case of primary education, they would determine

which schools would remain open, what new schools would be founded, and the amount

of their endowments.48 Some districts that had deposited their local funds at the treasury

offices ended up not receiving any money. This was the case of Sayn (province of

Chancay), whose sndico complained to the Ministry of Government that his district had

had to close its local school. The sndico asked that all of Sayn's local revenue be

47 "D. 1o. de febrero de 1848. Asignando una dotacin a la escuela de Coalaque", ADLP.48 See: Basadre, III: 15-16; "Decreto 15 de Mayo de 1848, Asignando cantidades para los gastos

municipales", ADLP.

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invested in this district's primary education, and the rebuilding of two local bridges. The

ministry tacitly accepted the complaint and told the sndico that the next budget would

include an allocation for Sayn's primary school.49 In October 1851, the Legislative

branch debated the possibility of including the voluntary contributions that parents of the

province of Condesuyos (Arequipa) made to their local school, into the national budget.

Congressman Jos Mara Mier y Tern rejected the proposal downright.50

According to the figures included in table 1 the introduction of national budgets

led to an effective increase of the public monies invested in primary education. However,

allocations for primary schooling did not represent a steady percentage of the national

budgets. They evolved according to political circumstances like changes in government,

variations in the relationships between national and local authorities, and even

international conflicts. For instance, when a Spanish fleet forcefully occupied the guano-

producing Chincha Islands in 1864, Congress discussed the need to decrease certain

public expenditures in order to pay for an eventual war. While some congressmen

defended reducing the allocations for public schools, others went as far as suggesting

their total suppression.51 A few years later, the national budget for 1869-1870 did not

include any funds for the supplies that the schools of the capital city needed. Therefore,

in July 1869 the Executive branch ordered the Ministry of Government to make sure that

these supplies were paid for by the municipal council of Lima. 52[Table 1, p. 26]

49

"Expediente promovido por Francisco de Ypinze, sndico procurador del distrito de Sayn, provincia deChancay, pidiendo que las rentas municipales de dicha poblacin se destinaran a reabrir la escuela de

primeras letras, y a reconstruir 2 puentes", April 1849, AGN, J-3, Leg. 182.50 See the discussion in Cmara de Diputados. 4a. Legislatura ordinaria. Congreso de 1851 (Lima:

Tipografa de La Revista, n.d.), 174.51

See the Congressional sessions of September 7 and November 19, 1864, in Congreso Constituyente de

27 de julio de 1864 a 1 de febrero de 1865 (Lima: Imprenta del Comercio, n.d.), 178, 638.52 Disponiendo que por el Ministerio de Gobierno se dicten las medidas convenientes, para que las

Municipalidades provean de tiles a las Escuelas de Instruccin Primaria", July 21 1869, Archivo Central

del Ministerio de Educacin, Seccin de Instruccin, Resoluciones Supremas 1869, 37.

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The increasing contribution of the national government to primary education did

not necessarily satisfy the expectations of all regional, provincial, and district elites. In

1860, Congressman Angel Ugarte (Cuzco) complained that the allocations made by the

central state to departamental governments were mere "handouts". For Ugarte these

allocations sufficed only to pay for the salaries of employees, but not for schools, roads,

or the general wellbeing of manufacturing and commerce.53 In the same year, the

municipal government of Huacho (province of Chancay) asked both the Executive and

Legislative branches to be granted the right to manage the revenue produced by the trade

of guano. This money was currently administered by the treasury of the departamento,

which paid for six scholarships forHuachano students at the higher-education Colegio of

Guadalupe in the capital city. The municipality had found out that only one of these

scholarships was being used then by a Huachano, while the other five were being used by

Limeos. Municipal authorities planned to use the guano-revenue to open a local middle-

53 See: Session of September 10, 1860, in Congreso Constituyente. Congreso que ha reformado la

constitucin dada por la Convencin en 1856. 28 de julio de 1860 a 15 de noviembre de 1860 (Lima:

Tipografa del Comercio, 1860), 172.

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Table 1. Allocations included in national budgets to primary schooling all over the

country, 1846-1879

Year Total amounts (in soles) Percentage of national budget

1846-47 0 01848-49 839.6 0.02

1850-51 132,784.8 3.04

1852-53 114,752.0 2.01

1854-55 164,906.4 2.07

1861-62 209,507.2 1.59

1863-64 418,624.0 2.36

1869-70 510,482.9 1.64

1873-74 1,201,790.0 5.11

1875-76 0 0

1878-79 0 0

Sources: Pedro Emilio Dancuart,Anales de la Hacienda Pblica del Per; historia y legislacin fiscal dela repblica (Lima: Guillermo Stolte, 1903-24), 4: 60-69, 126-141, 5: 61-65, 159-177, 6: 159-177, 226-

234, 9: 192-218, 10: 177-205;Presupuesto de la Repblica Peruana para el bienio de 1854 y 1855 (Lima:

Imprenta del Gobierno, 1853).

Note: From 1846 to 1879 the national budgets had a biennial force; they began to have an annual force in

1887.

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school, and to pay for more scholarships for Huachanos at Guadalupe. The Executive

rejected the petition, leaving the management of the guano revenue under the control of

the departamental treasury. The municipal governments of Chancay would have the right

to oppose any aspirants to the scholarships at Guadalupe, who were not native of the

province; but they would not be able to propose any candidates for such benefit. The

Executive also offered to increase the number of scholarships at Guadalupe, in case the

guano-revenue remained stable.54

In addition to the introduction of national budgets, the central government also

expanded the state apparatus through the introduction of the educational codes of 1850

and 1855. The objectives of the code of 1850 were presented in very general terms:

arranging education according to the universal progress of culture, and the moral and

political conditions of the country. The code of 1855 posed more specific goals:

expanding, organizing, and improving public education as an indispensable guarantee of

liberty, order, and progress; and achieving a balance between freedom of teaching and

unity of national thought.55 The earlier code tried to impose less centralization at the top

and more at the other tiers, while the later attempted to introduce more centralization at

the upper levels, and slightly less at the local level. The code of 1850 created

unremuneratedjuntas de instruccin or schooling councils for departamentos, provinces,

and parishes. The Central Junta in Lima would supervise the juntas of the other

departamentos, and it would be composed by twelve members appointed by the

Executive branch. The juntas of the departamental capitals would oversee the councils of

54 "Expediente promovido por la Municipalidad de Huacho, provincia de Chancay, solicitando administrar

los derechos sobre el guano que se importaba [sic] en dicha provincia (1/2 real por quintal), hasta entonces

administrados por la Tesorera Departamental; y emplear su producto en establecer un colegio preparatorio

en la villa de Huacho, as como aumentar las becas sostenidas en Guadalupe", 1860, AGN, J-3, Leg. 183.55 "Reglamento de instruccin pblica para las escuelas y colegios de la repblica",El Peruano 23: 50

(June 14 1850), 200; "Reglamento de instruccin pblica",EP28: 7 (April 11 1855), 25.

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their jurisdiction, and they would be composed by five members, all named by the

prefecto. The provincial and parish juntas would be composed by three members each:

two "local notables" appointed by the subprefecto, and the respective parish priest. The

juntas were responsible for ensuring that all schools followed the educational code, and

watching over their day-to-day performance particularly in terms of contents. They were

also in charge of examining aspiring teachers, and suggesting the removal of those whose

behavior was harmful to good morals and instruction.56

Only a year after their introduction, the government of Jos Rufino Echenique

officially closed the juntas. Minister of Education Juan Torrico argued that they were not

suited to act promptly and efficiently, this in spite of the fact that they had been in effect

for such a short period of time.57Nevertheless, the educational code of 1855 introduced

similar institutions called comisiones de instruccin pblica or public schooling

commissions. The new code tried to bring more centralization at the upper level, by

creating the Direccin General de Estudios (General Direction of Education) based in

Lima. This office was dependent from the Ministry of Justice and Instruction, and it was

composed by a director, an inspector, and a secretary, all appointed by the Executive

branch. The Direccin was made responsible for periodically inspecting all educational

establishments, watching over the fulfillment of the educational code, providing advice

on the use of school funds, and overseeing and promoting the publication of textbooks.

The comisiones departamentales were in charge of issuing teaching accreditations, and

removing teachers when necessary. They were to be composed by the prefecto and two

"educated" persons of his choosing. The comisiones provinciales had to examine those

56 "Reglamento de instruccin pblica para las escuelas", 26.57 Alberto Regal, Castilla educador, instruccin pblica durante los gobiernos de Castilla. Lima: Instituto

Ramn Castilla, 1968, 79-80.

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who aspired to teaching positions, and suspend teachers in "urgent" cases. They were

composed by the subprefecto and two persons "concerned about education". The code

allowed some degree of community participation in the comisiones parroquiales, which

had to include a local father besides the parish priest, and the sndico appointed by the

prefecto. They had to inspect local schools, manage the educational funds, and suggest

the removal of teachers considered unfit for their job.58

The national government had a hard time enforcing the detailed regulations

regarding the comisiones de instruccin pblica. Between the late 1850s and the 1860s,

national authorities ordered prefectos and subprefectos to carry out the creation of these

commissions several times.59 Apparently, in those instances when the commissions were

actually created, they only had an irregular existence. For example, in September 1868El

Comercio informed that the provincial and parish commissions of Lima had held a

preliminary meeting; there is no new mention to the juntas until February 1869, when

municipal authorities were trying to reconvene them again.60 We can speculate that local

notables lacked interest in participating in the commissions because these were

unsalaried. It is also possible that provincial and district authorities did not support the

commissions because the Executive branch was formally entitled to hold so much sway

over them. This was evident when there were disagreements between the departamental

58 "Reglamento de instruccin pblica", 26.59

See: "D. 16 de Noviembre de 1858. Disponiendo que los Prefectos eleven propuestas para reemplazar a

los vocales propietarios de las juntas de instruccin"; "Reglamento orgnico para las ComisionesDepartamentales de instruccin pblica", August 7 1861, ADLP; "Resolucin suprema de 22 de febrero

de 1865. Disponiendo que, a falta de prrocos, los sndicos fueran presidentes de las comisiones parroquiales de instruccin", Archivo Central del Ministerio de Educacin, Seccin de Instruccin,

Resoluciones supremas 1864-66; Crnica de la capital. Instruccin pblica, El Comercio XXVIII: 8885

(February 14, 1866), 3-4; Crnica de la capital. Juntas parroquialesECXXX: 9846 (August 12, 1868), 3;

EC9861 (August 27, 1868), 3.60 Crnica de la capital. InstruccinECXXX: 9879 (September 7, 1868), 4; Crnica de la capital. Juntas

parroquialesECXXXI: 10079 (February 23, 1869), 3. See also: Crnica de la capital. Enseanza

primariaECXXVIII: 8845 (January 9, 1866), 3.

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commission, led by the prefecto, and the parish commissions. For instance, in late 1862

the parish commission of Miraflores asked the prefecto of Lima to remove the local

teacher, but the petition was denied. According to the parish commission -- represented

by the district sndico local teacher Juan Lucero was old, unpunctual, and unreliable.

The sndico wanted Lucero to be substituted by Jos Casanova, who had been already

examined by the local commission, and was found to be efficient, honest, and virtuous.

The prefecto refused, arguing that Lucero had been originally supported by the parish

commission, and that this individual had been found competent by the commission of the

departamento.

61

The municipal legislation introduced during Ramn Castilla's second presidential

term (1855-62), provided local elites with the possibility of intervening in public

schooling with a larger degree of autonomy from the central government. In October

1856 the national congress or "Convencin Nacional" controlled by Liberal politicians

-- presented a project of municipal code that reestablished city and town councils. These

were granted the authority to open public schools, determine their endowments, and

appoint and remove public teachers. More importantly, municipal governments were in

charge of administering the funds allocated to public education, and in case they did not

have enough money of their own, they were entitled to receiving school subsidies from

the national government. The Executive observed several provisions of the code,

including some related to schooling. According to the national government, it was

necessary to regulate the right of local councils to remove teachers; this prerogative was

inadmissible in those cases in which the teachers had been appointed by the Executive or

61 "Expediente promovido por Marcos Andrade, sndico procurador del pueblo de Miraflores, pidiendo que

Jos Sebastin Casanova fuera nombrado preceptor de la escuela de dicha localicad", November 1862,

AGN, J-3, Leg. 185.

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its representatives. The Liberal parliament rewrote a few passages of the municipal code,

but not those devoted to education, and the Executive issued it reluctantly in November

1856.62 In 1860, Minister of Instruction Juan Oviedo complained that municipal

governments had assumed the full management of schools, pushing parish commissions

aside. For Oviedo, municipalities were not competent enough to have total control over

public education; they should be entitled exclusively to supervising primary schools.63

The Liberal regulations issued by the Convencin Nacional led it to clash with

both the Executive branch and Conservative political sectors. Ultimately, military men

closed it in late 1857, with the connivance of President Ramn Castilla. A renovated

congress was opened in 1860, and a year later it issued a new municipal code. In

educational terms, local councils were declared to be in charge of supervising primary

schooling, watching over the fulfillment of official regulations. Municipalities were also

made responsible for opening public schools, and fostering the creation of private ones.

Although the new code made no mention to the appointment or removal of teachers, it

still gave municipalities the prerogative to administer the public funds earmarked for

schooling, in coordination with departamental treasuries.64 The Executive remained

committed to providing school subsidies to city and town councils, in order to

complement their own financial resources. Given the irregularity of the comisiones de

instruccin pblica, which were supposed to depend from the Executive branch,

municipal governments were left in effective control of public schools. In 1860 the city

62 "L. 29 de Noviembre de 1856. Ley orgnica de Municipalidades", ADLP.63

See: Juan Oviedo, Memoria que el Ministro de Estado en el despacho de Justicia, Instruccin y

Beneficencia presenta al Congreso Nacional de 1860. Lima: n.p., 1861.64 "Ley Orgnica de Municipalidades", 1861, inLa Constitucin y leyes orgnicas del Per dadas por el

Congreso de 1860 (Lima: Imprenta del Estado, 1869).

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council of Lima opened one escuela municipalor municipal school for boys; two years

later there were two municipal schools for boys and two for girls.65

One of the presumed goals of opening more public schools was extending the

educational supply. This effort was not free from the mediation of the patronage networks

that existed in the city of Lima. Instead of making municipal schools free and open to

anyone, the city council set a maximum of vacancies at each of them, for those who could

prove both poverty and decency. In order to gain a scholarship for a child, his or her

parents, relatives or guardians needed to obtain letters of support from authorities or

priests. Thus, it was not just enough to be poor and to need a scholarship; it was also

necessary to have the right social connections. For instance, at least thirty girls applied

for admission to the first female municipal school when it was opened in 1862. Sixteen of

them presented letters of recommendation signed by priests, and two presented letters

signed by officers of the municipal government.66 As a result of the influence of

patronage, although municipal schools were supposed to educate poor children,

contemporary observers noted that some better off families send their children to these

establishments. In May 1863, a special commission appointed by the city mayor to visit

the schools stated:

We cannot fail to inform the city council that although the municipal schools were

opened for poor, indigent people, there are students of parents who have means to

pay, thus enjoying the scholarships destined for the poor; this commission

65See: Alfredo G. Leubel,El Per en 1860 (Lima: Imprenta del Comercio, 1861), 296; Comunicados.

La ilustracin del siglo,EC XXIV: 6197 (February 5, 1862).66 All of these requests are in A.H.M.L., Instruccin 1852-1872.

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considers it necessary to examine the situation of the fellows, in order to grant

scholarships to those who really need them.67

The influence of patronage networks over access to municipal schools caused

conflicts of interest among members of the city council itself. In late 1860 the first female

municipal school refused to admit orphan sisters Mara and Manuela Romero, who had

applied for a scholarship. Municipal sndico Valentn Moreyra wrote a complaint in favor

of the Romeros, whose parents he had apparently known. Moreyra argued that the sisters

had not been admitted to the municipal school because they were "mulatillas" (had

African blood), and therefore they were not considered "decent." The sndico claimed

that even though the mother of the Romeros had had African blood, their father had been

a "gentleman of class". Moreyra added that the exclusion of the Romeros from the

municipal school contravened the democratic principle of legal equality. In spite of

Moreyra's determined defense of the Romeros, the mayor promptly granted one of the

two available scholarships to Bartola Aldrobes, who was recommended by another

member of the city council. The regidor who supported Aldrobes vowed that her parents

were both "decent and poor."68

Patronage also had an effect in the appointment and dismissal of public teachers.

At the highest level, whenever a new president came to power, a number of his

supporters received public jobs, including teaching positions; when the president lost

command, his clients could be removed from their jobs. For instance, after General

Mariano Ignacio Prado ousted General Juan Antonio Pezet from the presidency, the new

67 File on municipal teacher Jos Jesus Aylln, 1863, A.H.M.L., Instruccin 1852-1872, f. 12v-13.68

Solicitud del regidor Nicols Villalba para Bartola Aldrobes, hija de padres decentes y pobres,

November 14, 1860; Certificado firmado por Luis Guzmn, de la parroquia de Santa Ana, a favor de

Felipa Garca, October 11, 1860, A.H.M.L., Instruccin 1852-1872; Carta de la Sindicatura General al

Alcalde, November 13, 1860, A.H.M.L., Sindicatura 1851-1862. This latter reference was generously

provided to me by historian Martn Monsalve.

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ruler annulled all the bureaucratic appointments made by his predecessor.69A few years

later, when General Jos Balta succeeded Prado in the presidency, the former nullified all

the decrees related to public instruction introduced by the latter, including the

designations of educational employees.70 The process was replicated at the municipal

level. In early 1864, a group of regidores of the city council wanted to dismiss five public

principals who had been appointed by the previous municipal administration. The

projected measure was criticized in the press, claiming that the principals who were

involved had obtained their jobs after a competitive examination. The supporters of the

principals wanted the prefecto to intervene, and they argued that the members of the city

council were "partisan men who want to be reelected and to perpetuate themselves in the

municipal government. Therefore, they want to designate their protgs and clients as

school principals."71 Apparently the city council went ahead with the dismissal.

In addition to broader political ties teachers could establish relationships with the

parents of the communities where they worked. These relationships could be born out of

personal affinity, economic interest, and common partisan loyalties, all motivations that

could complement each other. The links that teachers and parents established were not

always approved by political and educational officers and they could lead to mutual

benefits but also to potential conflicts. In case parents and teachers were friends the

former could expect their children to receive more attention and better care at school

69

"D. 11 de Diciembre de 1865. Declarando nulos y de ningn valor y efecto los empleos, cargos, obeneficios conferidos por el gobierno de Juan Antonio Pezet", ADLP; "Resolucin suprema mandando que

los establecimientos de instruccin primaria se pongan desde luego en ejercicio, recibiendo con puntualidadlas subvenciones que les estan asignadas", January 23 1866, ACME, Seccin de Instruccin, Resoluciones

supremas 1864-66, 189-190.70 Comunicados. A S.E. el Presidente y al Ministro de Instruccin EC XXX: 9871 (September 1, 1868),

4.71 "Los amantes del orden. Asuntos personalesSeor alcalde municipal", EC XXVI: 8127 (March 7,

1864), 3; "Veritas. Asuntos personalesSeor prefecto del departamento", EC XXVI: 8130 (March 8,

1864), 4.

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from the latter. This is what Gregorio Arana claimed in 1862, when he asked the city

council to transfer her daughter Enriqueta from the school directed by Petrolina Aylln to

the one led by Paula Arcoyti. Arana claimed that he had a "relationship of consideration"

(relaciones de consideracin) with Arcoyti and, therefore, he expected his daughter to

make more progress at her school. Arana added that he already had another daughter

studying with Arcoyti, and it would be more practical to have both sisters at the same

establishment. The city council rejected the petition, arguing that doing otherwise would

disrupt the organization of schools and thus set a bad precedent.72

In economic terms municipal teachers were expected to be salaried employees

dependent from local governments. Therefore when city councils began to establish

municipal schools they forbade their teachers from charging fees to their students or

taking private pupils.73 Local officers did not want municipal teachers to use public

appointments for individual profit or to pay more attention to fee-paying students than to

non-paying ones. Public teachers were aware of these official concerns but did not

necessarily share them. A group of municipal teachers of Lima criticized the prohibition

to take private students arguing that they had "many friends to serve" and that the

attendance of these students would motivate the other ones i.e. students who had

scholarships and studied for free -- to work harder. 74 Although the city council did not

accept this argument some municipal teachers continued taking fees from their students at

72

"Gregorio Arana al alcalde. Pide sea trasladada su hija Enriqueta del 1er colegio municipal, dirigido porPetronila Aylln, al colegio municipal de la calle de Lechuga, dirigido por Paula Arcoyti", February 5,

1862, AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872.73 Although there is no available copy of the code for municipal schools issued by the city council of Lima

in 1863 there are specific and reliable references to it. See: "Expediente de destitucin de Juan Mindreau,

director del colegio municipal del Cuartel 5o" (1865), AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872. Charging fees was

also explicitly forbidden in the department of Junn. See:Reglamento para las Escuelas Municipales,aprobado por la Junta de Instruccin Departamental(Lima: Imprenta Liberal, 1867), 9.74 "Directores de Colegios Municipales al Alcalde. Hacen observaciones al reglamento para los colegios y

piden sea derogado", March 19, 1863, AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872.

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least during the 1860s. In May 1863 municipal officer Jos Andraca informed his

superiors that teacher Dolores Barra had private pupils in her school, although in a room

separate from the one for the students who studied for free. Andraca criticized this

situation contending that:

This differentiation [] within a single school is harmful because it fosters

competition and displeasure among those students who pay and those who do not,

leading the mothers of those who study for free to complain that their children do

not receive enough attention; and especially since the city council pays the rent

for the buildings of these [municipal] schools their principals should not use these

public buildings for private business.75

In late 1865 mother Dominga Casquero de Ferreyros told municipal authorities that

teacher Juan Midreau charged her 3 monthly pesos to teach her son. The city council

dismissed Mindreau, who had also physically punished Casquero's son too harshly.76

There is no evidence of municipal teachers charging fees to their students later into the

nineteenth century, which may mean that it became a less common phenomenon or that

those teachers who continued carrying on this practice took greater pains in hiding it.

Teachers could also establish relationships with parents based on common

political loyalties. Educators had a better chance to resort to the support of parents

successfully when their partisan affiliations coincided with those of political officers.

This was the case of Camilo Iraola, who was a municipal teacher from 1860 to at least

1896. In 1864, Iraola was at risk of being fired by the city council. Iraola presented a

letter of support signed by fifty-six parents whose children studied at his school. These

75 "Informacin acerca de los colegios municipales", May 1863, AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872, f. 5.76 "Expediente de destitucin de Juan Mindreau"

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parents claimed that Iraola had shown talent and dedication, and that he had fostered the

"desire to study" in his pupils.77 It is likely that some of these parents were truly pleased

by Iraola's performance, but there is also a good chance that some of them were his

friends, and supported him out of closeness rather than merit. In fact, Iraola himself

recognized as much. One of the criticisms on Iraola was that he took paying students at

his school, which was legally forbidden. In a note to the mayor, Iraola admitted that he

had taken an extra number of students, but he claimed that they studied for free, because

they were children of persons with whom he had "commitments born out of friendship". 78

Apparently Iraola kept his position until June 1872 when the city council dismissed him

shortly before presidential elections. According to Iraola's later claims, he was fired

because he supported Manuel Pardo, while the members of the council opposed this

presidential candidate. After the elections, Pardo took power and appointed a new

municipal administration led by his friend Federico Marriott. Iraola immediately

requested to be restored to his job and, just like in 1864, a group of parents sent a letter of

support to the city council. Perhaps Iraola asked his parent friends to send this letter

because his professed allegiance to Pardo was not credible enough. Iraola's supporters

praised his efforts and dedication, adding that they were aware that the teacher had been

deposed because of his political ideas. A few weeks later, the municipal council

reinstated Iraola as municipal teacher.79

When the partisan loyalties of teachers did not concur with those of political

authorities they had a lesser chance to resort to parental support successfully. For

77 "Expediente seguido por Camilo Iraola, director del Colegio Municipal del Cuartel 3o. Desmiente

acusaciones y pide no se le destituya; acompaa testimonios", June-July 1864, AHML, Instruccin 1852-

1872.78 "Nota de Camilo Iraola al Alcalde", July 19, 1864, AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872.79 "Expediente acerca de la reposicin de Camilo Iraola, destitudo el 1o de junio de 1872, como director de

la escuela municipal del cuartel 3o. 1872", August 1872, AHML, Instruccin 1852-1872.

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instance, in February 1869 Mayor Manuel Pardo closed the municipal schools because of

an epidemic of yellow fever in the capital city. Once the epidemic subsided, Pardo

ordered the municipal teaching positions to be filled on a competitive basis. The former

teachers could apply for the positions and, if evaluated satisfactorily, they could resume

their jobs. Flora Silva was one of the former teachers who took the examination but failed

it. A group of parents signed a petition asking authorities to reconsider the dismissal of

Silva. They argued that she was an experienced and well-regarded teacher, whose

students had participated successfully in several public exams, showing moral and

intellectual progress. The city council denied the request claiming that it could not ignore

the results of the exam that Silva had taken. However, municipal authorities delayed the

measure while Silva appealed. Finally, in 1873 Silva resigned her position claiming that

she could not stand the "partisan" animosity of the city council anymore.80

Close interaction between teachers and parents could also lead to conflicts

between them. In 1863, municipal teacher Petronila Aylln complained that a father

named Chacn had recently attacked her verbally. Chacn's daughters had studied at

Aylln's school briefly, until the teacher informed municipal authorities that the girls

were not poor, as required, and that they also had "low morals". As a consequence of this

information, authorities had expelled the Chacn sisters from the municipal school. In

reaction, Chacn had gone to the school, yelled at Aylln, and treated her in an

aggressive manner, falling short of beating her. The father had also threatened to

complain that Aylln had asked him for an undue payment, and that his daughters had

made little progress at her school. But the relationship between Aylln and Chacn had

80 "Solicitud de un grupo de padres de familia, para que la municipalidad suspenda la destitucin de Flora

Silva, directora del colegio municipal del cuartel 1o., calle Pachacamilla", January 18, 1870, AHML,

Instruccin 1852-1872.

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not always been so sour. The teacher knew enough about Chacn's family as to state that

they owned a house and a piano. She also claimed that it was Chacn who had initially

volunteered to pay her a fee and a "reward" to admit his daughters at the school, but that

she had rejected his offer.81

In addition to the relationships that teachers could establish with local authorities

and parents, they also created links with other educators. These links were born out of the

increased number of schools in the capital city, the regular interaction among teachers,

and their similar work difficulties. It is possible to recognize the beginnings of a

professional identity in the opposition of teachers to the arrival of the Hermanos

Cristianos or De La Salle Christian Brothers in th

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