Eligiendo Mi Camino: AI for Learning and Career Decisions in Peru

Two AI-powered tools helping 6,300 students in Lima connect learning to real career opportunities

Overview

"Eligiendo Mi Camino" (Choosing My Path) is a WBG Innovation Award-winning program that deploys two AI-powered educational tools for fifth-year secondary students across 100 public schools in Lima, Peru. Launching March 16, 2026, the program addresses two critical challenges: learning gaps in mathematics and the disconnect between secondary education and labor market opportunities. The intervention operates fully within existing school infrastructure, teacher capacity, and class hours - designed to prove that AI-powered education can scale within real public school constraints.

The Challenge

Across Latin America, 56% of children cannot read a simple text by age 10. In Peru, 70% of students finishing secondary school do not access higher education, and most end up in informal employment. One-on-one tutoring and career guidance are proven interventions, but they are too expensive to scale in public education systems. AI offers the potential to deliver personalized learning and career guidance at scale - but only if designed to work within real institutional constraints.

The AI Math Tutor uses a diagnostic-first approach, drawing from approximately 4,000 questions aligned to Peru's fifth-year mathematics curriculum. The system identifies each student's specific conceptual errors across 4 competencies, 16 topics, and 80 subtopics, then delivers personalized Socratic tutoring sessions adapted to the diagnosed gap. The tutor operates in two modes: a teacher-guided school mode integrated into regular math hours (2 hours per week), and a free-exploration home mode. Three pedagogical innovations ground the approach: retrieval practice, reflection on one's own errors, and detection of errors in others - all based on learning science evidence. Teachers access a real-time dashboard to monitor student progress.

The AI Career Coach provides personalized vocational guidance for ALL students - whether headed to university, technical education, or direct employment. The program covers 142 occupations across 12 economic sectors using data from Peru's Ministry of Labor. Students progress through 8 structured steps across 12 sessions of 90 minutes each:

1. Self-Discovery
2. Vocational Myths
3. Interest Test (RIASEC)
4. Pathway Exploration
5. Occupation Explorer
6. Research
7. Validation
8. Decision & Plan

The coach is built on three pillars: Self-Knowledge (Who am I?), Exploration (What are my real options?), and Decision (What is my concrete plan?). The program's mascot, the Gallito de las Rocas (Andean Cock-of-the-Rock), symbolizes the decisive moment when students are ready to show the world who they truly are.

Impact Evaluation

The Development Research Group's (DECRG) AI/DD initiative will conduct a rigorous Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) across all 100 participating schools. The evaluation examines whether AI tutoring can improve math outcomes and help students better connect their education to real job opportunities. The study is jointly led by Ezequiel Molina (LAC Education) and Carolina Lopez (Development Research Group).

Partners

• DRELM (Regional Directorate of Education of Metropolitan Lima) - Government of Peru: School access and curriculum alignment
• Anthropic - AI provider: AI tokens (Claude)
• uDocz - EdTech platform: Technology development and deployment
• UPC (Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas) - Teacher training and pedagogical support