The following are some famous teachers in Bolivia. You can read about more famous Bolivians by visiting our Famous People from Bolivia home page where you'll find many other categories. You can also ask questions about any famous Bolivian person or add another famous person from Bolivia to our list.

Photo Credit: Jaime A. Escalante

Jaime Escalante
A mathematician and high school teacher, he was born in La Paz and is one of the most famous teachers from Bolivia. He immigrated to the United States in the 1970’s where he gained prestige as a Calculus teacher for a class of young people from poverty-stricken homes with behavior problems at Garfield High School in Los Angeles where he taught until the 1990’s. His success as a teacher was portrayed in the movie “Stand and Deliver” in which Edward James Olmos played his part. Escalante died of cancer in March 2010.

Oscar Alfaro
A teacher, poet and storyteller born in Tarija. He based his works on the customs and folkloric fables of his native land to create children's stories and was also inspired by the reality of daily life in his poems, some of which have been put to music and converted into songs. His children's stories are often used in elementary schools throughout the nation. He died in 1963.

Franz Tamayo
A teacher, writer and diplomat born in La Paz. He held diplomatic posts in Europe, was a member of the Bolivian equivalent of the House of Representatives, and was also a journalist. He wrote various articles about Bolivian reality and children's education. He died in 1956.

Georges Rouma
A teacher of Belgian origin. He was hired by the Bolivian government in 1909 to reform the national education curriculum, which he did very efficiently. He established the basis for founding the first teacher’s collage, the Mariscal Sucre Teachers College in the nation’s capital city of Sucre, where he personally trained several outstanding teachers.

Elizardo Pérez
A teacher born in La Paz, he was one of Rouma's students and a great defender of the rights of rural inhabitants to get an education. He is the father of Bolivian rural education and established the Indigenous Teachers College in Warisata (La Paz).

Meredith Schleffen
A missionary and teacher from the United States. She has lived in various parts of Santa Cruz for over half a Century, working first as an evangelical missionary and later as a teacher. She founded the Universidad Evangélica Bolivia, the oldest in Santa Cruz and one of the first private colleges in the country, where she continues as its Chancellor.