- The Covid-19 pandemic has placed important challenges in the educational field, such as school dropouts, the increase in inequality gaps, school dropouts, the increase in child labor and lack of connectivity for students in vulnerable situations.
- International evidence indicates that the waves of infections are not linked to face-to-face return to schools, as long as the necessary biosecurity measures are taken.
Confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic reached 9 out of 10 girls, boys and adolescents in the world, removing them from educational establishments and forcing them to migrate to new forms of access to education through the use of technological tools or support materials such as photocopies, for those who have not had access to virtuality.
During the Webinar How to transform the Educational System in the Covid-19 Era? managed by the Initiative Weaving Childhood Nets for Latin America and the Caribbean that was transmitted through OllinTv, Juan Martín Pérez, Coordinator of the Initiative, recognized that there are red flags on the negative impact that the pandemic has left on the lives of children, such as school drop-out, the increase of child labor but above all a learning lag, "It is clear that we have to change the educational system as we knew it before the pandemic, the one that existed will no longer work", assured.
For her part, Angélica Cuenca of the Alliance for Colombian Children, He highlighted that the pandemic has placed important challenges in the educational field, particularly in the decline in access to initial education, in which girls and boys under 5 years of age have based their learning through mobile devices, affecting their healthy development.
For Alejandro Canedo, Independent Researcher in Bolivia, during the pandemic there have been breaks in the continuity of educational inclusion policies, in the face of financial limitations that break with the regulatory frameworks and that limit states to continue with orthodox education plans that do not they adapt to the new normal of the students.
Given the educational crisis that Latin American states are going through and as a call to educational authorities, the #EvaluaciónJusta collective emerged from civil society in Mexico to address inequality gaps. Camila, a member of the group, pointed out that the current educational system in Mexico is outdated and class-based that discriminates according to social conditions, "Education in a pandemic has been a privilege, accessible only to those who have a computer, a cell phone and a good internet connection", He said.
Faced with the question, How to transform the Educational System in the Covid-19 Era ?, specialists agree on the importance of rethinking education from the perspective of children's rights, which includes, from consulting them, the necessary mechanisms to improve access from education to technological training of teaching staff, who do not always have the necessary skills and tools to enhance and accompany learning.
Angélica Cuenca, recalled that school is not only the place where girls, boys and adolescents go to learn, but it is also a space of protection for children who are violated in their homes.
“There are many things that we can do for the benefit of education, which do not cost money and which only involve will and disposition; if learning is not based on a logic of interests, the learning crisis will continue to increase ”; Juan Martín Pérez complemented.
The international community, through organizations such as UNICEF or UNESCO, have made an international call for the urgency of returning to schools as soon as possible, since the evidence indicates that the waves of infections are not linked to face-to-face return to schools, always and when the necessary biosecurity measures are taken.
Given the need for the necessary transformation of the educational system in Latin America, Alejandro Canedo, reflected on the importance of learning from local experiences that have been developed in communities from the impulse of civil society, as a way to accompany learning and parenting and as an example of transformation and changes that can ideally be systematized in public policies.
As conclusions, the specialists refer that it is necessary to think about the restructuring of the educational system, which in the context of a pandemic has become obsolete, for one with a non-class, non-racist and non-sexist approach, which considers the protagonist participation of childhood and that it strengthens the initiatives of solidarity and exchange of ideas that have been developed during the confinement.
Finally, one of the most important challenges facing civil society, in the face of the crisis in education, is for the State to be able to actively listen to them and at the same time generate the messages and trust mechanisms necessary to give security and reliability to parents. who still experience insecurity regarding face-to-face return to classrooms.
If you would like more information on this topic, please request an interview with Juan Martín Pérez, Regional Coordinator of the Initiative Weaving Childhood Networks for Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Ollin.TV is an Internet television channel created as part of Weaving Childhood Nets in Latin America and the Caribbean an initiative co-financed by the European Union, which seeks to contribute to the strengthening and consolidation of a platform for the defense of children and adolescents in 20 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of Children's Rights Mexico AC / Weaving Childhood Networks and in no case should it consider that it reflects the views of the European Union.
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