Ramon is nine years old, lives in the province of Buenos Aires, and arrived in March in the fourth grade of elementary school. Only one and a half weeks after the beginning of the school year, the teaching was interrupted because of the spread of the Coronavirus. Since then, he gets tasks, which he must do at home.
Ramón is one of more than 156 million Latin American students affected by the tuition lock, the UNESCO regional office for Latin America . This number also includes “all of the students of the University and technical and vocational training. In other words, all the formal levels of Education,” said Mary Guinn Delaney, head of sector, health and education in the UNESCO regional office in Santiago de Chile.
Sonia, Ramon’s mother, sometimes feels overwhelmed with the homework given to her son by the App SM Educamos. “You send us tasks for English, Spanish, and Videos. If we don’t understand something, we can talk with the school about a Chat. And we also have a group of mothers who support each other,” says Sonia, opposite the Deutsche Welle.
you Can swap the digital lessons the training in the class room? “At the Moment, it is not of fundamental importance, even if it replaces the traditional classroom completely. In addition, not all teachers are willing to work within this framework, and the education and training systems have not used these programs so far on a regular basis. In the middle of an emergency situation is complicated,” acknowledges Ariel Fiszbein, Director of the education program of the Think-tank Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, in front of the DW.
Digital education as a stopgap
Gabriel and Joaquin, nine and four years old and live in Santiago de Chile. The school year began on 4. March, but the teaching was interrupted only twelve days later. You receive from your teachers, homework, and in the past few days, the school has experimented with the video conference platform Zoom. “In this way, both my sons as well as we parents talk to the teachers, and they have carried out learning sessions in small groups,” says Patricio, the father. This digital communication will be used in the remote work a long time ago – apply it also in education, is now being accelerated by the Corona-crisis.
Milagros is 17 years old, lives in Montevideo and is in her last year at high school. In General, it is with the use of Zoom, this offers your school, satisfied. She believes, however, that their performance “has decreased by 80 percent,” compared to the normal lessons with a teacher.
“Sometimes there are no clear concepts, and we can’t all attend, as we are a big class and there’s no real discussion atmosphere arises. In addition, it is home to more relaxed, has the phone next to himself, and can’t disconnect as well between leisure and school activities,” says the student.
The crisis deepens the social inequality
The biggest Problem is that not all children have the same access to the Internet and computers. The experts Ariel Fiszbein am especially concerned that the crisis will deepen the social inequality: “students from families with low income, where parents have a lower level of education, will be the losers of this crisis.”
on the Other hand, the education expert, that “most of the education ministries in the Region to make substantial efforts to the education in their own country to maintain believes”. In addition, he praises “the strong commitment of the teachers,” the social networks significantly. However, the school would not have prepared systems to such a Situation well: “If the school closing take payments longer, it can be the impact significantly, with a strong social shifts between wealthy and poorer households have to keep.”
Digital communication: here to stay
Alegria is a teacher of literature at a private school in Quito, students from well-to-do to visit families. She teaches 16-Year-old and tells pride that your school participate very actively in the digital classroom.
“We use a platform called Schoology. This is a communication tool that we have used already before the pandemic. During the nationwide strike last October, we had to improvise, because a week of no classes took place. Every day, we send assignments via Schoology.”
The platform allows the young people daily, two-hour Video to teach. “The students need not only information, but also emotional proximity to the teacher. The tools allow the and it makes a big difference,” says Alegria. She believes that digital applications in education will have a great future.
it is also Fieszbein convinced that reiterates that the current Situation can trigger a real debate, which leads to a modernization of the education system and greater use of new technologies. Fieszbein is confident: “The current crisis shows us that educational technologies are not a luxury, but a necessity.”
author: Maria Santa Cecilia
*The post “Corona: push for digital education” is published by Deutsche Welle. Contact with the executives here.
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