Teaching mission from Belgium arrived in the early 1900s and, over a 30 year time, accomplished a foundation for rural primary education. In 1931 Elizardo Pérez founded a large nuclear school near Lake Titicaca. Smaller satellite schools in nearby settlements supplemented the nuclear school's offerings. This arrangement became the image for rural education in the Andes.

Primary education is nominally free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14. the public schools, although increasing in number, do not meet the needs of Bolivia. The nation’s literacy rate is 96 %. In 1996 almost all children were listed in primary schools. Only 42 % of secondary school-aged children attended school. Enrollment in institutions of higher education was 25 %. Bolivia has ten universities: in Sucre, La Paz, Cochabamba, Llallagua, Oruro, Potosí, Santa Cruz, Tarija, and Trinidad. San Francisco Xavier University, in Sucre, is one of the oldest in the Americas. The University of San Andrés, in La Paz, is the largest university in Bolivia, with a student enrollment of about 37,100.