Esdras Medina, a former Peruvian congressman for the Renovación Popular party, has been appointed as an advisor to the Sistema Nacional de Evaluación, Acreditación y Certificación de la Calidad Educativa (Sineace), the national body that oversees the quality of Peru's schools and universities.
Medina remains affiliated with Renovación Popular, the conservative party led by Rafael López Aliaga, the mayor of Lima, according to the report.
According to the résumé Medina submitted to Peru's Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) ahead of the 2021 General Elections, his work experience consists of two stints as administrator of the private school Belén Kids, in Arequipa. He also holds a master's degree in Regional and Local Government Management from the Universidad Andina Néstor Cáceres Velásquez, in Juliaca.
What Sineace does
Sineace is the Peruvian institution responsible for evaluating and guaranteeing the quality of educational institutions and their programmes through evaluation and accreditation processes. It also certifies the competencies of people who have gained knowledge and skills through experience or training, to ensure they meet established quality standards.
Role in Congress's Education Committee
Medina previously served as president of the Education Committee in Peru's previous Congress. Under his leadership, the committee approved the report that later led to Law No. 31498, which allowed conservative groups to veto the gender approach used in school curricula.
That law drew criticism for limiting the role of Peru's Ministry of Education (Minedu) in drawing up new educational materials.
A controversial record
Medina's time in Congress has also been linked to disputed positions on education policy and institutional oversight, according to the report.
He was one of the Renovación Popular lawmakers who backed changing the composition of the governing council of the Superintendencia Nacional de Educación Superior Universitaria (Sunedu), Peru's university oversight body. Critics described the measure as part of a broader university counter-reform.
Years later, Medina pushed for a reconsideration motion to revive a proposal that would have allowed the re-election of rectors at public universities, despite opposition from several universities that warned it would undermine their institutional autonomy.
