A review of what has been learned: reflections on difficulties and challenges of exercising the right to education in Uruguay in pandemic and post-pandemic

Abstract

This article reflects on the strategies deployed in Uruguay for the different educational scenarios (presenciality/virtual/hybrid/semipresential) in order to guarantee access to compulsory education during the Covid-19 pandemic. Each scenario required the implementation of tools and curricular adaptations that altered school formats. This alteration made teachers, non-teachers and professional teams of the Ceibal Plan adapt their activities following the protocols designed by the health and education authorities. The pandemic widened the access and learning gaps of students, impacting the most vulnerable sectors. This translates into a violation of the right to education which widens inequalities according to the context of the subjects. The health emergency also had an impact on teachers' work, conditioning teaching and learning processes according to the possibility and conditions of educational work, home infrastructure and available resources. Added to this is the inequality in the capacity of each family to accompany them in the virtual environment. In order to contribute to the effective exercise of the right to education of all people and to alleviate the consequences caused by the pandemic, this work proposes to bring together reflections, dialogues and agreements of the different actors in education.