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| 8 Nov 2026 | |
| Written by JOSE VIA MALPARTIDA | |
| Community News |
FROM THE BOY WHO SOLD LOLLIPOPS TO THE TEACHER WHO TOOK AN AMAZONIAN SCHOOL INTO THE WORLD'S TOP 50
José Elmo Vía Malpartida: a story of adversity, perseverance and innovation that demonstrates that the future of education can also be built from the most remote territories.
Pucallpa, Ucayali, Peru – 2026
A STORY THAT BEGAN LONG BEFORE THE RECOGNITION
Before becoming an educator and founder of Premium College, José Elmo Vía Malpartida was a child who went around the gas stations of Pucallpa selling lollipops to contribute to his family's economy.
Under the intense heat of the Peruvian Amazon, he learned early on that life does not always offer equal opportunities.
He was born in Posuzo, into a large family with Andean and Amazonian roots. His father, Víctor Manuel Vía Solís, came from Áncash; his mother, María Estela Malpartida, from Iquitos.
From them he inherited a lesson that would mark his destiny: education and work can open paths even when circumstances seem to close all doors.
His childhood was not marked by privilege, but by sacrifice. He knew work from a young age, economic limitations, and the pain of losing a loved one.
However, those experiences did not extinguish their aspirations.
They transformed them.
Years later, the boy who sold pacifiers would discover that his greatest purpose was not only to overcome his own difficulties, but to help others overcome theirs.
FROM ADVERSITY TO A VOCATION FOR TRANSFORMING LIVES
José Elmo understood that education could change history, but also that many schools needed to change to truly respond to the needs of their students.
During his career as a teacher, literacy instructor, and educational manager, he began to question a model in which students too often remained passive recipients of information.
Why should a school limit itself to transmitting knowledge?
Why couldn't students research, create, debate, produce content, and share their ideas with other communities?
These questions were the starting point of an educational philosophy that would place communication, creativity, and student agency at the center of learning.
His conviction was clear:
True innovation doesn't begin when a computer arrives in the classroom. It begins when a student discovers they have something important to say and acquires the skills to express it.
CLASSROOMS WITHOUT WALLS: AN IDEA AHEAD OF ITS TIME
Long before virtual education became widespread during the pandemic, José Elmo began to promote distance learning experiences.
His project, Classrooms Without Walls, sought to demonstrate that education could overcome the physical limitations of the classroom.
The initiative faced technological, economic, and institutional difficulties, but it also strengthened an idea that would accompany his later projects: geography should not determine a person's educational opportunities.
In 2012, this experience was recognized within the Peruvian contest Maestro que deja huella (Teacher who leaves a mark ).
That strengthened his commitment to educational innovation connected to the real needs of students.
It wasn't about introducing technology for the sake of modernity.
The idea was to use it to reduce barriers and create opportunities.
PREMIUM COLLEGE: A FAMILY DREAM THAT FOUND ITS VOICE
Together with his wife Sonia Roxana and with the support of his family, José Elmo decided to turn his educational philosophy into an institution.
This is how Premium College was born, in Pucallpa, the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.
Its purpose was to develop a school where students not only learned content, but also built knowledge, discovered talents, and actively participated in problem-solving.
One of its flagship projects, Aprendo, Creo y Comunica (I Learn, I Create and I Communicate ), integrates school radio, educational television and podcasts as pedagogical tools.
Students research, write scripts, conduct interviews, produce reports, record programs, and communicate their learning.
The experience allows for linking communication skills, critical thinking, creativity, and citizenship.
A shy student can find confidence in front of a microphone.
A girl can become an interviewer in her community.
A group can investigate an environmental problem and present proposals through a report.
The school then begins to fulfill a broader function: to train citizens capable of understanding and transforming their reality.
THE DAY THE AMAZON WAS RECOGNIZED AMONG THE 50 FINALIST SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD
In April 2026, Premium College achieved a historic recognition for its educational community.
The Varkey Foundation selected the institution as one of the 50 finalist schools for the Global Schools Prize 2026 , in the Arts and Culture category.
The selection was made from approximately 3,000 applications and nominations from 113 countries.
For an institution located in Pucallpa, this recognition represented much more than an international distinction.
It was a demonstration that an Amazonian school could develop educational proposals capable of arousing worldwide interest.
The Premium College profile published by the Global Schools Prize highlighted the integration of multimedia production, creativity, Amazonian identity and interculturality.
He also highlighted the Voices of the Living Earth project, aimed at preserving and disseminating languages, stories and ancestral knowledge of the Amazonian peoples through student productions.
Experience shows that technological innovation and cultural identity do not have to advance along separate paths.
The Amazon does not need to lose its identity to engage with the world. It can make its identity an educational strength.
A SCHOOL WHERE TECHNOLOGY SERVES PEOPLE
Today, Premium College's proposal continues to develop through experiences that integrate communication, creativity, research, and digital tools.
Their approach aims to teach students to use technology not only to consume information, but also to produce their own content and communicate ideas responsibly.
For José Elmo, the most important challenge is not having the most modern equipment.
It consists of ensuring that every educational resource contributes to human development.
A camera alone does not transform education.
A microphone either.
What is truly transformative is the learning that allows a student to overcome their fears, investigate, organize their thinking, and express themselves autonomously.
A STORY THAT AIMS TO INSPIRE OTHER TEACHERS
The personal experience of José Elmo Vía Malpartida and the institutional journey of Premium College represent two dimensions of the same conviction.
Education can transform a person's life.
And one person committed to education can help build opportunities for many others.
His story, recounted in the autobiographical book VIA: The Path of an Amazonian Dreamer. The Life of the Teacher Who Leaves His Mark in the Amazon , does not pretend to present a journey free of difficulties.
On the contrary, it shows how losses, sacrifices, mistakes, and new beginnings can be transformed into learning experiences that strengthen a vocation.
By sharing this experience with the Global Teacher Prize and Global Schools Prize communities, the educator seeks to convey a message to teachers working in rural areas, isolated communities, and contexts of inequality:
It is not necessary to wait for perfect conditions to begin transforming education.
Good ideas can be born in a small school.
Creativity can emerge where resources are scarce.
And leadership can be built from places that have historically received little attention.
THE REAL REWARD LIES IN THE LIVES WE MANAGE TO TRANSFORM
International recognition is important because it allows for sharing experiences, establishing alliances, and giving visibility to educational initiatives.
But José Elmo believes that a teacher's true legacy remains with his students.
In those who overcome the fear of speaking.
In those who discover that they can investigate and create.
In those who develop confidence to build a life project.
In those who understand that their cultural identity is a treasure that deserves to be preserved.
And in those who, after learning, decide to help others.
The Global Schools Prize 2026 allowed Premium College to share its proposal with an international educational community.
Now, the challenge is to continue strengthening that experience and explore new possibilities for collaboration between schools, teachers and students from different territories.
Because the education of the future also needs to listen to the voices of those who teach and learn far from major urban centers.
A MESSAGE FROM THE AMAZON TO THE WORLD
The story began with a boy selling lollipops on the streets of Pucallpa.
He continued with a young man who decided to study and become a teacher.
Then an educator was born who dared to innovate.
And, with the support of his family and his educational community, an Amazonian school emerged that achieved international recognition.
But this story is not over yet.
Because the mission of a true teacher is not simply to go far.
It consists of opening paths so that others can go much further.
"I didn't receive a finished road. I dreamed it up, I built it, and I decided to open it up to others."
José Elmo Via Malpartida
Educator and founder of Premium College
Pucallpa, Ucayali, Peru
