Right to Education and School Dropout of Children and Young People During the Pandemic

• In Event: COVID-19 and Mexican Elementary Education: Analysis, Alternatives, and Lessons Learned From the Pandemic

Abstract

This focuses its attention on children and young people who, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, were forced to abandon their studies in its different modalities and in the use of technologies (radio, television, cell phone, tablet and computer). Of particular interest are those students who, due to socioeconomic and precarious living conditions, were completely disconnected from the social practices of the school institution and in many cases were forced to work to support their parents, but also those who do not make sense in continuing because they considered that they were not learning. To account for this, multiple case studies have been carried out in diverse contexts in the state of Puebla and Mexico City through in-depth interviews, multimodal narratives and stories supported by art. With the results of this research, it is expected to contribute to the public agenda regarding the right to education and the possible alternatives for the return to the classrooms of this population.
The results so far have shown that despite the great effort of the schools, teachers, directors and parents so that the students continue to be linked to their studies and to the school, there were several cases in which this was not possible due to the same Covid-19 disease that monopolized all their attention because the family got sick and some had to take care of other people. In other cases, the online classes seemed very tedious and they did not continue and in other cases they did not have the necessary electronic devices or the internet to continue the online classes or they did not have parental support because the parents worked all day.

Authors

• Maria Mercedes Ruiz Munoz, Universidad Iberoamericana
  Presenting Author

• Martha Franco-García
  Presenting Author

• María Fernanda Álvarez-Gil
  Presenting Author