Nowadays, school and home have become the same place. In a report released by UNESCO, more than 861.7 million of people (both children and teens) from 119 countries have been affected by the pandemic.

Millions of children and teens have started to study from home, which is known as homeschooling.

Homeschooling is effective and nothing new, since it has been going on for years. The problem lies in how well prepared our society is for this type of education.

Many questions arise in this aspect:  Do schools have the technological tools needed to overcome this challenge? Are teachers prepared to teach remotely or virtually? Do students have the technological tools needed to accept this new challenge? Are parents ready to guide their children in this educational system?

These are questions to think about and act upon since the responsibility to provide answers and solutions lies with the leaders of each country.

The pandemic has not only dramatically changed the traditional approach of education, but has also affected the academic functions of the school.

Sadly, very few schools are providing quality and comprehensive virtual education; in fact, many of them are confusing the remote with the virtual school.

The education system is facing a socio-economic reality that has been going on for years, which is that many students don’t have the tools and gadgets needed to take online courses, and also, many teachers don’t know how to create lessons that are interesting and effective.

Another thing that the pandemic has brought to attention is that learning with technology culture is not common. And this has caused the investment in virtual education to be little to nothing.

But the truth is that many schools are not ready to recognize that the inequality in terms of access to technology and the Internet is way bigger than they thought.

Education affects all areas of society, so it’s our responsibility to create solutions that help everybody access quality education.

The world is moving too fast for some… and too slow for others. This speed quality moves with is not governed by economic resources or technological advances; it should be a much more important and transcendental factor, as is education.

Reference:

Villafuerte, P. (2020). Educación en tiempos de pandemia – Observatorio de Innovación Educativa . Observatorio de Innovación Educativa. Recovered on July 2nd, 2020, from https://observatorio.tec.mx/edu-news/educacion-en-tiempos-de-pandemia-covid19

Educación: de la interrupción a la recuperación. (2020). UNESCO. Recovered on July 2nd 2020, from https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse