Supporting Equitable STEM Participation Among Girls and Boys in Peru’s Secondary Schools

By Paola Moreno-Roman, PhD

(Prototype GEM‑style analytical case study)

Context and problem

Peru has increased its investment in education and expanded secondary schooling over the past decade. Government expenditure on education rose from 3.3 percent of GDP in 2013 to 4.4 percent in 2024, and the share of total public spending allocated to education moved from 15.2 percent to 19.2 percent (1). Upper secondary completion has grown during this period, but the gender gap in completion has not disappeared; the SDG 4 profile shows that the difference between girls and boys in upper secondary completion oscillated between roughly 0.3 and 2.2 percentage points between 2013 and 2024 instead of converging steadily to zero (1).

At the same time, inequality by wealth and location remains substantial. Data from the World Inequality Database on Education indicate that adolescents from the poorest 20 percent of households in Peru are much less likely to complete lower and upper secondary than those from the richest 20 percent, and that these inequalities are particularly pronounced for rural students (5–7). In many high income urban settings, girls and boys have high probabilities of completing secondary school, while in low income rural settings both girls and boys face much higher risks of leaving school early, with girls often encountering pressures related to domestic work, care responsibilities, or early unions and pregnancy, and boys facing pressure to contribute to household income (8,9,12).

These patterns matter for STEM because completing secondary education is a prerequisite for most STEM related tertiary programmes and for many technical and vocational pathways that require strong foundations in mathematics and science (3,4,8). Global gender monitoring work has shown that gaps in mathematics performance and confidence that arise in primary and lower secondary can influence the courses students choose at upper secondary and the fields they believe are open to them (3,4). In Peru, the combination of socio economic, territorial, and gender inequalities in secondary completion means that many adolescents, particularly in rural Andean and Amazonian communities, never reach the point where they can choose STEM intensive trajectories in a meaningful way (5–7,12,14).

Policy responses to broaden STEM opportunities

The Peruvian curriculum for educación secundaria articulates clear expectations for learning in mathematics and science. Students are expected to develop competencies in reasoning, modeling, and problem solving in mathematics and in interpreting natural phenomena, designing simple experiments, and using evidence in science (2,7). These curriculum goals reflect an intention to move beyond rote learning and to give all students a more robust base in STEM related skills, which is consistent with broader national objectives in science, technology, and innovation (2,7).

To support these aims, state and non state actors have developed programmes that bring STEM content and experiences to adolescents. Some initiatives focus on school based activities such as science clubs, fairs, and project based learning that encourage students to apply mathematics and science concepts to issues they see in their communities (10,14). Others create spaces outside the regular timetable, including camps, coding workshops, or microscopy and robotics sessions, often implemented in partnership with universities, research institutions, or civil society organizations (10,14). There are also targeted efforts to work with students in rural and Indigenous language contexts, where teachers and local partners adapt STEM activities to local realities and languages to make them more accessible and relevant (10,12,14,15).

Within these broader efforts, several programmes intentionally include women scientists and engineers as facilitators or mentors and design activities that allow girls and boys to see women leading scientific inquiry or technological problem solving (9,11,14,15). This type of exposure aims to counter the implicit messages many students receive about who belongs in science and to offer concrete images of future paths (9,11,14). Programmes that reach girls and boys in the Andes and Amazon have documented how adolescents respond when they see STEM content connected to local issues, such as water quality, agriculture, or biodiversity, and when they can engage in hands on investigation with low cost tools (10,14,15).

Evidence of progress and remaining gaps

The combined evidence from UIS, WIDE, ESCALE, and recent research suggests that Peru is making progress in expanding secondary schooling and in articulating curricula that value STEM skills, but that this is not yet translating into equitable STEM opportunities for all adolescents (1–3,5–7,10–15). Among students from richer households and urban areas, secondary completion is high, and the gender gap in completion is small, which means that many girls in these settings are formally eligible to pursue STEM fields in higher education (5,6,8,9). Nevertheless, national and international studies on women in STEM show that women remain underrepresented in STEM degrees and occupations in Peru, indicating that other filters operate between the end of secondary school and entry into STEM careers (8,9,11).

For students from poorer and rural households, the picture is more constrained. WIDE data highlight that secondary completion rates in the poorest quintiles lag far behind those of the richest, and that in rural areas both girls and boys face compounded barriers tied to poverty, geography, and language (5–7,12). Qualitative studies and programme experiences point to factors such as long travel distances, school infrastructure in poor condition, limited access to laboratories and digital resources, and the need for adolescents to contribute to family livelihoods as reasons why many do not complete secondary school or cannot participate fully in STEM focused activities (10,12,14,15).

Infrastructure indicators show improvements over time, but the fact that around one in five lower secondary schools still lacked internet for pedagogical purposes as of 2023 suggests that the ability to integrate digital and computational thinking activities remains uneven (1,10,12). Analyses of rural STEM programmes in Peru report that when structured activities are implemented, girls and boys perform similarly on computational thinking tasks, which supports the view that ability is not the main constraint (10). Instead, availability of stable connectivity, trained teachers, and time within the school schedule are recurring bottlenecks (10,12,14).

Insights from practice

Experiences from community based and regional programmes working with adolescents in the Andes and Amazon regions help illuminate what is possible and what remains challenging. When girls and boys in rural communities are invited to design experiments, work with microscopes, or explore coding and robotics using low cost materials, they often show high levels of engagement and curiosity, especially when these activities connect to familiar questions such as analyzing local water quality or examining plant and insect diversity (10,14,15). In several cases, facilitators report that girls who initially describe themselves as “not good at science” become more confident after successfully completing tasks and receiving feedback, and that parents express surprise and pride when they see their daughters presenting scientific explanations or leading activities with younger students (10,14,15).

At the same time, practitioners emphasize that these programmes usually reach a subset of students and rely on external funding or partnerships. Teachers and local leaders highlight the need for more sustained support, including time for professional development in STEM pedagogy, opportunities to share practices among schools facing similar constraints, and more systematic integration of these activities into school plans rather than treating them as one off events (7,10,12–15). These insights suggest that while targeted initiatives can make a real difference for participating students, long term progress will depend on how well national policies and resources align with the day to day realities of secondary schools, particularly in rural and Indigenous language communities (7,12–15).

Implications for policy and SDG 4

The picture that emerges from these data and experiences points to several implications for advancing SDG 4 in Peru with a focus on equitable STEM participation. First, even where national averages show small gender gaps in secondary completion, disaggregated data remind us that socio economic status, location, and language create distinct patterns of disadvantage for girls and boys that need to be addressed explicitly in policy design (1,2,5–7,12,13). Second, there is a clear need for more systematic sex disaggregated data on participation in advanced mathematics and science courses, technical specialties, and other STEM related pathways at the secondary level, so that policymakers and practitioners can see where gaps are opening and respond in a timely way (3,4,7).

Third, strengthening teacher preparation and ongoing support in STEM content and pedagogy, with attention to gender dynamics and intercultural contexts, will be essential for translating curriculum aspirations into classroom practice that genuinely expands opportunities for all students (3,4,7,8,12). Finally, sustained investment in infrastructure, connectivity, and context sensitive programmes in underserved areas will be important so that improvements in secondary access and completion are matched by real opportunities to engage in meaningful STEM learning (1–3,7,10–12,14,15). If these elements move together, Peru will be better positioned to ensure that girls and boys from diverse backgrounds can participate in and contribute to STEM fields, in line with its own development goals and the broader vision of SDG 4 (1–4,7–9,14).

References

1. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. SDG 4 country profile: Peru. Montreal: UIS; 2025. Available from: https://download.uis.unesco.org/SDG4/SDG4-Profile-Peru.pdf

2. OECD. Education and skills in Peru. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2026. Available from: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-and-skills-in-peru_7d430d1b-en

3. UNESCO. Global education monitoring report 2024 gender report. Paris: UNESCO; 2025. Available from: https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/publication/2024-gender-report

4. UNESCO. Monitoring SDG 4: Global education monitoring report online. Paris: UNESCO; 2024. Available from: https://www.unesco.org/reports/gem-report/en/2024-monitoringsdg4

5. World Inequality Database on Education. Country profile: Peru. Montreal: WIDE/UNESCO; 2023. Available from: https://www.education-inequalities.org/countries/peru

6. World Inequality Database on Education. WIDE data download (Peru, wide_2023_sept). Montreal: WIDE/UNESCO; 2023. Available from: https://www.education-inequalities.org/data

7. OECD. Education at a glance 2025: OECD indicators, country note Peru. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2025. Available from: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-at-a-glance-2025_1a3543e2-en/peru_0afa65c8-en.html

8. World Bank. Peru gender scorecard. Washington (DC): World Bank; 2022. Available from: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099911202202530996/pdf/IDU17dfce1091b1a21446918e331463c6f87b3fa.pdf

9. Vergara C, et al. Access and opportunities for Peruvian women in STEM fields in the 21st century. Learning-Gate J. 2025. Available from: https://learning-gate.com/index.php/2576-8484/article/download/4614/1760

10. Arana F, et al. Playful tools to foster the development of computational thinking in rural Peru. Manag Prod Eng Rev. 2025. Available from: https://www.iieta.org/journals/mmep/paper/10.18280/mmep.120514

11. Learning-Gate. Women in STEM in Peru: higher education and labour market snapshots. Learning-Gate J. 2025. Available from: https://learning-gate.com

12. Del Carpio L, et al. Urban rural gap in education performance in Peruvian public schools. Front Educ. 2024. Available from: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1394938/full

13. Ministerio de Educación del Perú. Diccionario de datos del Censo Escolar 2025. Lima: MINEDU ESCALE; 2025. Available from: https://escale.minedu.gob.pe

14. Yachaq Warmi. Yachaq Warmi: comunidad de latinas en STEM. Lima; 2025. Available from: https://www.yachaqwarmi.org

15. Yachaq Warmi. ¿Qué hay detrás de lo amarillo? Lima; 2025. Available from: https://www.yachaqwarmi.org/post/qu%C3%A9-hay-detr%C3%A1s-de-lo-amarillo