El Programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe y sus resultados: ¿perpetuando la discriminación?

Abstract

In previous studies carried out about the linguistic and cultural situation of indigenous communities, we have identified the gap in traditional circuits of production and reproduction of indigenous languages as one of the main reasons for the loss of their vitality. Public authorities, indigenous organizations as well as intellectuals have all stated the need for correcting this problem by means of initiatives such as the Intercultural Bilingual Education Program (PEIB). In this article, we undertake a critical assessment of this program, vis-à-vis Chile’s multilingual and multicultural character, by analyzing several experiences carried out in rural and urban schools throughout the country. As a result, we found that, at a structural level, there are not enough resources to ensure the initiative’s continuity and that it depends on the individual performance of teachers, principals and communities rather than the institutions that should be responsible (National Corporation for Indigenous Development [CONADI], Ministerio de Educación [MINEDUC]). At an intercultural level, the evidence points out to conflicts among social representations with regard to the pedagogical content about indigenous language and culture, and the role of “traditional educators” as a way to transmit indigenous cultural knowledge. We conclude that public policies such as the PEIB end up propagating the very asymmetric relationships and the social representations they are supposed to overcome in relation to indigenous people, that is, indigenous individuals subordinated to «civilized» people, without a voice or an agenda of their own, living in precarious conditions, with a low social status and whose local systems of production and transmission of knowledge lack of legitimacy.

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