Education in Times of Pandemic: A Lost Year for Latin America?

After one year of pandemic, virtually all socio-economic indicators in Latin America have experienced some kind of setback. Poverty, health, employment, economic activity in general... and education.  

Keeping up with the new dynamics of distance learning has been a real headache for parents, teachers, schools and education systems, which, in general, were not prepared for such a rapid and radical shift in traditional learning culture, which was mainly based on in-person teaching.

In fact, according to several experts, if we analyze what happened in 2020 in education, we can hardly talk about advances in learning, especially among younger children. At the height of lockdown, an estimated 160 million students were no longer at school.

The main cause for the region’s education systems lagging behind during the pandemic is the digital divide. Unlike countries in northern Europe—global leaders in education quality—the region had not integrated digital tools into day-to-day life, nor did it have teachers trained to integrate online platforms into teaching processes, in many cases families did not have the necessary devices to ensure teaching continuity for their children.

In addition, the closure of schools in Latin America lasted longer than in other regions. These issues have shown that substantial improvements are needed in order to tailor education systems to present and future needs.

“In the short term, the effects on learning will be devastating, and a sharp rise in school dropout and deepening of existing socio-economic gaps are expected, especially for students from lower income families,” noted Bibiam Díaz, education expert at CAF. “Not only will there be significant falls in the development of basic skills such as reading, writing and math, but in the general development of children, who also have access to health and food services through school,” says Diaz.

According to the expert, the greatest risk to young people is school dropout, as some students will not be returning to school once in-person classes resume. These young people at risk of early drop-out, whether to help at home or start working, will see their educational paths disrupted, will have fewer opportunities to access quality jobs, and are expected to earn lower salaries and have a less productive work life.

The lack of contact with the school, anxiety and stress generated by the crisis add to this problem which, before the pandemic explained the average dropout of four out of ten young people from formal middle education. To relearn educational dynamics and avoid exacerbating structural problems, UNICEF Education Specialist Ruth Custode explains that “tools must be developed to support students and identify signs of stress and distress in order to ensure learning. If a child doesn’t feel well, they are not going to learn well.” The expert also suggests that we must continue with mixed modalities, and identify vulnerable children in order to, with the help of their families and teachers, help them participate fully in the education system.

Opportunities

One of the many lessons of the pandemic is the need to incorporate technology into education systems, closing gaps in access to connectivity and devices for students in more vulnerable conditions, and empowering teachers to get the most out of these tools. In fact, the use of technology should be present in education in both online and face-to-face formats.

Opportunities, therefore, require re-engineering teaching processes and learning that the relationship between students and teachers is not determined solely by presence in a classroom, but by the creation of flexible and enriched educational environments. This entails, inter alia, the use of online and interactive resources, and requires additional efforts by countries to build the capacities of teachers and schools.

Another opportunity is the redesign of the school-community relationship, giving schools greater autonomy based on the provision of the necessary tools to help principals exercise their pedagogical leadership. At the same time, Latin American governments should invest more efficiently in improving the quality of education systems. In this context, we should note that the latest PISA report ranks the nine Latin American countries evaluated below the OECD country average.