For the first time, the state will have a map of need
En un país donde el Estado ha matriculado durante décadas a niños sin conocer realmente sus condiciones de vida, Perú da un paso hacia la visibilidad con la Ficha Única de Matrícula, anunciada por el Defensor del Pueblo Josué Gutiérrez en enero de 2024. Este documento unificado recopilará datos sobre desnutrición, anemia, discapacidad y trabajo infantil, convirtiendo el acto administrativo de la matrícula en un diagnóstico nacional de vulnerabilidad. La pregunta que queda abierta —y que define el valor real de la iniciativa— es si los datos reunidos desencadenarán intervenciones concretas o simplemente enriquecerán un archivo que nadie transforma en política.
- Perú ha gestionado su sistema educativo sin saber cuántos niños llegan al aula desnutridos, anémicos o trabajando, una ceguera institucional que la nueva ficha busca corregir de raíz.
- El formulario unificado exigirá a las familias revelar peso, talla, vacunas, estructura familiar e idioma materno, convirtiendo la matrícula en el primer censo real de salud y vulnerabilidad infantil.
- La coordinación entre los ministerios de Educación, Salud e Inclusión Social, junto a la Defensoría, el Congreso y la Contraloría, representa una alineación intersectorial inusual en la historia administrativa del país.
- El Defensor del Pueblo ha fijado una meta explícita: cero anemia en niños en edad escolar, lo que obliga al Ministerio de Salud a actuar sobre los datos que la ficha generará.
- El riesgo central no es técnico sino político: que la información recopilada se convierta en un archivo de sufrimiento documentado en lugar de un mapa operativo para la intervención del Estado.
El sistema educativo peruano ha matriculado durante años a niños cuyas condiciones reales de salud y vida permanecían invisibles para el Estado. No existían cifras consolidadas sobre cuántos estudiantes padecían desnutrición o anemia, cuántos vivían con discapacidad, cuántos trabajaban o habían perdido a sus padres. Esa opacidad, anunció el Defensor del Pueblo Josué Gutiérrez, llega a su fin con la implementación de la Ficha Única de Matrícula.
El nuevo formulario transforma el trámite de inscripción escolar en un instrumento de diagnóstico nacional. Las familias deberán reportar peso y talla de sus hijos, estado de vacunación, estructura del hogar, si el niño trabaja, si habla una lengua indígena y si presenta condiciones de desnutrición o anemia. Por primera vez, el Estado contará con un mapa geográfico y detallado de la vulnerabilidad infantil en todo el sistema escolar.
Gutiérrez describió la ficha como la herramienta de política pública más importante que posee el Estado peruano en este ámbito. Su diseño involucró al Ministerio de Educación —que ya la validó—, al Ministerio de Inclusión Social y a la propia Defensoría, con supervisión del Congreso y la Contraloría. Esta convergencia intersectorial marca una ruptura con la tradición fragmentada de la matrícula en Perú.
La meta declarada es ambiciosa: erradicar la anemia entre los niños en edad escolar. Alcanzarla exige que el Ministerio de Salud actúe sobre los datos que la ficha producirá, y que las agencias del Estado —que no siempre coordinan— operen en conjunto. Sin ese seguimiento, advierte implícitamente el propio Defensor, el formulario no será más que un registro sofisticado de carencias. La desnutrición y la anemia deterioran el aprendizaje y el desarrollo; el trabajo infantil y la orfandad condicionan si un niño puede asistir a la escuela. Hacer visibles esas realidades es el primer paso; convertir esa visibilidad en acción, el verdadero desafío.
Peru's education system has long operated without a clear picture of who sits in its classrooms. The Ministry of Education could not tell you how many children were malnourished, how many carried untreated anemia, or how many lived with disabilities. That opacity ends this year, according to Josué Gutiérrez, Peru's Ombudsman, who announced the rollout of a unified enrollment form designed to map the actual condition of the country's school-age population.
The new Ficha Única de Matrícula—a single enrollment document—will ask questions that cut to the heart of childhood vulnerability in Peru. When families register their children for school, they will be asked about malnutrition and anemia. They will report weight and height. They will disclose vaccination records, family structure, whether the child works, and whether they speak an indigenous language at home. For the first time, the state will have consolidated data on these conditions across the entire school system.
Gutiérrez framed the form as perhaps the most consequential tool the Peruvian state possesses. It is not merely an administrative document. It is, he suggested, a foundation for policy—one that demands the attention of Congress and the Comptroller's office, the body charged with auditing government spending and performance. The form has already been validated by the Ministry of Education, and its design reflects an unusual alignment: the Education Ministry, the Ministry of Social Inclusion, and the Ombudsman's office have all participated in its creation. This multisectoral approach marks a departure from how enrollment has traditionally worked in Peru.
Once the enrollment period closes, the government will possess detailed information about where malnourished and anemic children live, how tall they are, how much they weigh, and which ones have been vaccinated. It will know which students are orphans, which speak indigenous languages, and which are working while trying to attend school. The data will be granular and geographic—not just national statistics, but a map of need.
The Ombudsman articulated an explicit goal: zero anemia among school-age children. Achieving that requires the Ministry of Health to act on the data the enrollment form will generate. It requires coordination across agencies that do not always work in concert. It requires, in other words, that the form become not just a record-keeping device but a trigger for intervention. Without that follow-through, the data becomes another archive of suffering rather than a blueprint for change.
The timing of this announcement reflects a broader recognition that Peru's education system cannot serve children it does not understand. Malnutrition and anemia are not abstract problems—they impair learning, slow growth, and compound over time. Disability, orphanhood, and child labor are not marginal issues. They shape whether a child can attend school at all, and whether school, when attended, can do its work. The enrollment form is an attempt to make those realities visible to the state, and to create the conditions under which visibility might lead to action.
Notable Quotes
The questions in this form reveal the true picture of how many children suffer from malnutrition, anemia, and disability— Josué Gutiérrez, Peru's Ombudsman
This enrollment process will have multisectoral participation for the first time—Education, Social Inclusion, and the Ombudsman's office all involved— Josué Gutiérrez
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the Ombudsman call this form the most important tool the state possesses?
Because for the first time, Peru will have a complete picture of its school children's actual conditions—not estimates or guesses, but data collected at the moment families enroll. That visibility is what allows policy to be targeted rather than generic.
But isn't enrollment data already collected? What's different here?
The difference is what gets asked and who participates. Before, enrollment was transactional—name, age, address. Now it's diagnostic. And it involves Health and Social Inclusion ministries from the start, not as afterthoughts.
The Ombudsman mentions a goal of zero anemia among school children. Is that realistic?
It's ambitious, but it's not impossible. Anemia in children is largely preventable through nutrition and supplementation. The hard part isn't the goal—it's the coordination required to act on the data once you have it.
What happens to a child whose form reveals malnutrition or disability?
That's the question the form raises but doesn't answer. The data exists now. Whether it triggers a school meal program, a health referral, or specialized support depends on whether the ministries actually use it.
Why involve Congress and the Comptroller's office?
Because this is a tool that will reveal how many vulnerable children exist and where they are. Congress needs to see that data to fund interventions. The Comptroller needs to audit whether those interventions actually happen.
Does this form solve the problem of child malnutrition in Peru?
No. It names the problem and locates it. Solving it requires resources, political will, and sustained coordination. The form is the first step—making the invisible visible.