Quechua Collao — A Randomised Trial of a Mobile App for Indigenous-Language Revitalisation in Peru

Quechua Collao is a mobile app developed with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), working with Peru's Ministry of Education, to strengthen Quechua as a second language among sixth-grade and first-year-secondary students. It targets schools classified under the "Revitalise" and "Urban" models of Peru's intercultural bilingual education policy — students with limited everyday exposure to Quechua, or in linguistically mixed urban schools.

The app combines three "entertainment modules" of written and audio content covering listening, reading and writing, used alongside in-class pedagogical sessions led by teachers, so students without home exposure to the language get structured, self-paced practice on a device they already carry.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) ran a randomised controlled trial across 200 rural and urban schools in the Cusco and Puno regions, covering 4,464 students, from 2023 to 2025. Schools were randomly assigned to receive the app or to serve as a comparison group. Overall Quechua scores rose by 4 percentage points among app users, and scores on the specific topics taught in the app rose by 8 percentage points; students also reported using Quechua more in school, public spaces and their communities (IPA; IDB).

The evaluation is reported with its limits intact: it found no significant shift in students' attitudes toward the Quechua language despite the usage gains, and the trial covered specific "Revitalise" and "Urban" school types, so results may not generalise to schools with different baseline exposure to the language. No public evidence was found of continued funding for a wider rollout beyond the study period.

Read the full analysis: https://poverty-action.org/can-language-app-boost-indigenous-language-skills-evidence-peru