The 8 million schoolchildren will no longer return to classrooms in March, as expected. The second wave of the pandemic changed the plans of the Ministry of Education and we will continue with virtual classes, at least until April 15. The Minedu plans were to start the school year with a model that they called “gradual and voluntary blendedness” and reach the total return with positive indicators of COVID-19.
The pandemic thus overturns an expectation that the sector maintained Education, including students, parents and teachers, of a return to normalcy with the arrival of 2021.
It is now necessary to establish the priorities of the authorities of the sector, to guarantee in addition to the installed capacity, online educational quality. Access is essential, but suitability of the content is also required.
This is the case of the student population in rural areas, who have connection problems, and therefore do not access the platform provided by Minedu. The number of students in public schools in rural areas exceeds 2 million students. In this context, it is important to highlight that digital technology is an essential tool.
In addition to connection problems, the rural area concentrates the highest number of school dropouts, which affects women even more than men. The pandemic could reinforce these inequalities, if there is no direct action from the State.
The delivery of laptops, 960,000 to students and 90,000 to teachers, and the announcement that data packages will be available for teachers who run school classes from cell phones, are solving access issues.
It is also essential to guarantee the quality of the content. ‘I learn at home‘, an innovative project promoted by the State and which has won many allies among the media, television channels and radios, is being relaunched with changes.
Teachers will be able to access the contents 15 days in advance to be able to incorporate them as part of their teaching. In rural areas, broadcasts are being arranged in communal premises and soup kitchens, equipped with radio and television equipment.
Step by step, the Education sector is adapting to this new reality that profoundly altered pedagogy and that now must guarantee that education reaches everyone with equal quality, without deepening the gap that is leaving behind those who have less.
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