Reframing Conversations of Educational Access and Inequities in El Salvador Through a Mobility Justice Lens

• In Event: Catalysts of Change: Youth, Education, and Creativity in a Digital Era

Proposal

In today's digital age, tools and data are increasingly regarded as essential components of education (World Bank, 2023). However, systemic barriers such as inadequate resources and infrastructure prevent many regions, particularly in low-middle-income countries, from fully capitalizing on the digital revolution (Kinuthia, 2009). These barriers are not merely about lacking the technological infrastructure for internet connectivity; they are deeply intertwined with mobility issues. In rural and marginalized areas, poor transportation, unsafe roads, and restrictive socio-political norms hinder students' physical access to schools and digital access points. Without the ability to access physical spaces and digital platforms, students are left disconnected, and the digital and educational divide widens. Mobility, therefore, emerges as a critical factor in bridging these educational gaps, yet it is overlooked in the discourse of educational access and poverty alleviation (Romano et al., 2022; Thynell, 2017). Without addressing these mobility factors, efforts to improve digital access may unintentionally deepen educational inequalities, such as digital poverty, instead of reducing them.
This paper introduces the Mobility Justice Framework (MJF) as a conceptual lens to reframe the conversation on educational and digital access, highlighting the interplay between mobility barriers and educational equity. The MJF, which has been primarily leveraged in transportation and environmental justice studies, has rarely been applied to educational research. Often, these studies examine distributive justice, which addresses inequitable physical access and uneven distribution of people, goods, and spaces (Harada, 2023; Sheller, 2016). Education policy research has similarly focused on the uneven distribution of resources but often neglects the neocolonial and neoliberal forces shaping uneven mobility and the voices of vulnerable communities (Bierbaum et al., 2021; Lenhoff et al., 2022). This paper addresses these gaps by arguing that the MJF offers a comprehensive approach to examining mobility-related inequities in the field of international and comparative education.
Specifically, the MJF incorporates five dimensions of justice: distributive, deliberative, procedural, restorative, and epistemic justice to highlight how systemic barriers, such as policies, unsafe environments, and infrastructure, restrict movement for marginalized groups, thereby contributing to broader social inequities (Davis, 2024.; Hohenthal & Minoia, 2022). All five components are essential for addressing and mitigating mobility injustices in education and beyond, ensuring that efforts to improve digital and educational access tackle both the structural and tangible barriers limiting true mobility. Deliberative justice emphasizes active community participation in decision-making, while procedural justice ensures the involvement of vulnerable populations in policymaking. Epistemic justice values the lived experiences and forms of knowledge of marginalized groups, and restorative justice seeks to address the historical roots of inequalities that contribute to today's ongoing challenges.
In the context of the digital realm, the MJF conceptualized digital access as a form of mobility that is both a form of resource and space people move through. Therefore, simultaneously addressing digital mobility while addressing other immobility forms is vital to overcoming broader educational and social inequalities. Without addressing these mobility challenges—whether physical, social, or digital—digital tools alone cannot fulfill their potential to achieve equitable education for all. Although the MJF is relatively new and underutilized, especially in international research, it offers novel insights into educational access and inequality by demonstrating the value of this transdisciplinary approach.
To test the utility of the MJF, we examine educational inequalities in El Salvador across the five dimensions of justice. The country is a prime case due to its persistent barriers to education. Decades of gang violence following the 1992 civil war and U.S. immigration policies severely disrupted student safety. Around 100,000 students dropped out during the peak of gang violence in 2016 (Tjaden & Lasusa, 2016). After Nayib Bukele's 2019 presidency and subsequent gang crackdown, homicide rates have dropped, but long-term impacts on education remain unclear. Despite these efforts, inadequate educational infrastructure remains a critical issue.
Manuel Molina, a Salvadoran teacher union representative, reported that 85% of school infrastructure is in poor condition. They noted that only 70 of 670 schools in the San Salvador metropolitan area received infrastructural improvements following the 2021 "Mi Nueva Escuela" plan (Villata Flo, 2024). The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed deficiencies in technological access, with strict school closures highlighting that 13% of students lacked devices, 28.7% shared equipment, and only 3 in 10 had reliable internet (Villata Flo, 2024). To address this, President Bukele’s administration initiated a large-scale delivery of computers and tablets to students in 2022 to students in public schools. However, this large-scale initiative does little for students in rural areas who face geographical and transportation issues. According to the Educational Policy Data Center, in 2014, 39% of rural students aged 13-18 were out of secondary school, compared to 25% of their urban peers. In rural parts of El Salvador, students have to walk long distances to get to overcrowded, low-infrastructure institutions, which can further influence student dropout rates. In 2023, only 55% of students aged 4-29 were enrolled in school (Galdamez, 2024), underscoring the persistent issues of mobility and inequality. Thus, in El Salvador, the mobility challenges remain, as internet access alone cannot fully resolve the broader issues of inequality that affect students’ ability to attend school, including geographic mobility and economic barriers. Key components to an effective school in El Salvador must “incorporate adequate infrastructure, safety, materials, a low teacher-student ratio, school leadership and organization, an appropriate and challenging curriculum, and well-trained and supported teachers” (Rosekrans, nd, para. 7).
This paper uses the MJF to shift the conversation on educational access in El Salvador, challenging the focus on digital solutions by showing that without addressing mobility barriers, incorporating community voices, and recognizing the lived experiences of vulnerable populations, digital tools alone can't improve access. It calls for future research that integrates MJF to create sustainable, context-specific solutions. By ensuring equitable mobility—whether physical, digital, or social—across the five dimensions of justice, more effective strategies can be co-created to tackle the root causes of inequality.

Authors

• Marisha Addison, University of Maryland - College Park

• Jeffrey Quinteros Ceron, University of Maryland - College Park