2004 Report of Visit to Schools in Calca

On Tuesday June 22, 2004 after visiting Vilcabamba, we began our visits to the different schools benefited by the donation of CPUs by QuipuNet in Calca and the surrounding areas. We were accompanied by Aquiles Cruz, who coordinated with Edwin San Román the entire process of donations in that area.

We managed to visit the following schools:

1. School No. 50159 “Clorinda Matto de Turner” – Coya

  • Director: Jacinto Hermoza.
  • The school has a school population of 430 students, primary level, divided into 14 sections. On average there are 31 students per section.
  • One section per day uses the laboratory. They are given basic computer classes, due to the limitation in the number of computers they have.
  • Most of the teachers do not master the use of computers because they have not had the opportunity for training. Of the 5 donated computers, one is used by the principal to prepare his documents, two are for students and the other two are damaged. These are not repaired so far, because the school does not have a budget to maintain them.
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2. Secondary School “Eusebio Corazao” – Lamay

  • Director: Tito Hidalgo.
  • The school population is 500 students.
  • With the support of the Parents Association, they acquired five computers.
  • Of the five computers donated by QuipuNet, two are damaged.
  • They do not have a person who oversees the computer center because they do not have enough financial resources.
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3. School No. 50160 – Lamay

  • Director: Abelardo Cáceres.
  • They received five donated computers.
  • At the time of our visit, the school was closed.

 

4. School No. 50152 – Calca

  • Director: María Peña.
  • The school population is 607 primary school students.
  • Of the five donated computers, three are damaged.
  • They do not have support from the Parents Association, which is why they do not have an assigned budget for the maintenance of the equipment.
  • The computer center on the day of our visit was not working, so the students were not receiving their Computer classes.
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5. School “Sagrado Corazón de Jesús” – Calca

  • Director: Mery Tinco Cáceres.
  • The school population is 587 students at the elementary level and 380 students at the secondary level.
  • The five computers donated by QuipuNet are not working.
  • Currently they have two laboratories, with 6 and 7 computers in each. In addition, they have a television in each laboratory.
  • The Parents Association is in charge of maintaining their computer center, They have acquired more equipment and they also pay the fees of the two teachers responsible for each laboratory (morning and afternoon shifts).
  • At the time of our visit, one of the laboratories was being used by a primary section. The teacher in charge was Mr. Roger Sánchez García.
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6. School No. 50150 “Máximo San Román” – Calca

  • Director: Mario Rodríguez Barriga.
  • The school population is 600 students.
  • Of the five donated computers, two are in bad condition.
  • With the support of the Parents Association, the number of computers has increased. Currently the laboratory has 21 computers and a television.
  • To pay for the Computer teacher, the students pay a minimum fee.
  • One of the computers that is part of the laboratory was obtained as a prize in a Marinera dance contest in which the students of the school participated.
  • They told us that they want to join the Huascarán Plan, but that one of the requirements is that the laboratory must be online. This implies a high budget, since some computers do not have a network card and must also purchase a hub, cables and network connectors.
  • At the time of our visit, the laboratory was being used by a primary section.
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7. School No. 50151 “Nuestra Señora de Fátima” – Calca

  • Director: Oswaldo Cusiyupanqui Tecsi.
  • The school population is 500 students.
  • Of the five donated computers, one is in the Directorate for the use of the teaching staff, and the others are in the laboratory.
  • They have managed to join the Huascaran Plan, from which they obtained four more computers, having to date a laboratory with eight computers, of which one is in disrepair.
  • Despite being part of the Huascarán Plan, they told us that they have no support. Their network has stopped working due to technical problems in the equipment configurations.
  • The professor responsible for the laboratory is Mr. Ricardo Recharte
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8. Association of Salesian Cooperators

  • At the time of our visit, Father Ricardo was away from Cusco and the laboratory was closed.
  • We were attended by a young man, who indicated that the laboratory only provided service to university students of the Private Andina University through an agreement between the two institutions.
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CONCLUSIONS:

  • There are educational centers that, due to a lack of training for teachers, are not taking advantage of the benefit of having computers, with the students being the most affected.
  • Other institutions due to the change of directors have not continued with the work begun by their predecessors, cutting short the initiative and changing the purpose, as in the case of the Association of Salesian Cooperators

RECOMENDATIONS:

  • It should be required to monitor, encourage and maintain a permanent communication between QuipuNet and the benefited educational centers, in order to know their needs and disseminate their achievements.
  • Facilitate and promote training in computer management for teachers in the educational centers, so that they can teach what they have learned to their students.

 

ADA   HOFFMAN

President QuipuNet    

PAOLA BAZAN

Secretary QuipuNet