0:00:07.371,0:00:11.252
One of my students, Alan, [br]lives in a house in Villa Itati,

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with his mom, five brothers, [br]her sister-in-law and his little nephew.

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When he is done helping in the house, [br]he showers and goes out.

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He crosses three corridors[br]of the neighborhood.

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He climbs a very steep mud slope

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and walks the last block to get to school.

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He is not going to learn with his mates,

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but to line up to get [br]his family's daily meal.

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Due to the lockdown the place is closed.

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While waiting for the food at the door, [br]he uses the free wifi

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to download the assignments [br]his teachers sent him

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and send those he's already done.

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Today, he borrowed[br]the family's only cell phone

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because they knew[br]he would have an Internet connection.

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He gladly reads the messages

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in which teachers encourage him [br]to continue studying.

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And, besides,[br]we also answer his questions.

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It's not easy at all for him [br]to study remotely

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but at least he has a space [br]where to make his questions.

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With empty classrooms [br]opportunities are moving away

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and the inequalities

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a lot of kids live[br]since a long time ago deepen.

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And today they juggle to have access[br]to their right to learn.

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Yes, it is true that families and teachers

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welcome schools in our homes

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and we gave them the shelter[br]they needed to keep on working.

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But it's also true that [br]it became more evident than ever

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the need to maintain [br]and promote those bonds

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the school building used to enable.

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When we teachers meet at school

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to put together the bags with food

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the most important thing for us [br]is to have news, to exchange news,

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of the kids from who[br]we don't know anything lately.

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We're so alert that, [br]while the bags are delivered,

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we go through the line [br]looking for a relative

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or anyone else [br]that can deliver some news.

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Because of the pandemic some kids [br]went to live with another family

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when their parents, or grandparents [br]are hospitalized, or isolated.

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If it used to be so hard [br]that many of them

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keep their regular assistance [br]in high school,

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now our biggest concern [br]is that they don't give up,

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that they don't give up the school year.

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When the school got into the homes[br]it turned everything upside down.

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Valen, for example, [br]is sick of all that video calls,

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of this much homework [br]sent by his teachers,

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so much, that he asked his mom [br]"make the school go out of my home."

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Moms and dads had to change[br]all our routines

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to engage even more [br]with our kids' education.

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In my case, it was a good thing.

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My teenage son, [br]who has attention deficit disorder,

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for the first time in his schooling [br]is keeping up to date with his homework.

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And, just like Alan, he asks his doubts[br]directly to his teachers.

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He learned how to use tools[br]to read and write better.

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To him and many young people, [br]to be forced to use technology

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helped them create an autonomy[br]they didn't have.

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On the other side of the device

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my fellow teachers [br]did what they could.

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Most of us take care of our families

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at the same time as [br]we're working at home,

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with scarce resources,

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replying to the kids and families[br]at any time of the day,

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planning permanently, [br]correcting from screens.

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Daniel, for example, [br]is an excellent teacher in the classroom.

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But he now feels excluded[br]by the little grasp he has of technology

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and how quickly he had to catch up.

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At the other end, Alejandra [br]spends her time trying apps,

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trying one and a thousand times [br]even when this takes hours on end.

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And, also, like in any job,

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some choose to wash their hands

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and overload others with their work.

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That's how the school is today.

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Like a virtually dismantled machine.

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With all its parts on display.

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You can see all the imperfections.

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And an emergency operation [br]we could perform with what we had.

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It's an old machine. Old and noble.

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But it's got a lot of wire-tied parts,

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from education reforms,

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coming from remote desks far away [br]from the reality of each school.

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Schools that, in addition to educating,

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were entrusted with a lot [br]of huge responsibilities.

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And, as if this were not enough, [br]they were filled up with useless

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and tremendously bureaucratic tasks.

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Now we all have a unique opportunity,

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to put it back together[br]to make it work much better.

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We have to give more prominence [br]to kids and young people

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to take part and commit[br]to their education.

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But also to avoid [br]absurd discussions between adults,

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that would be easily solved [br]with asking the kids.

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We need to keep families in this loop.

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They took over schooling[br]in their homes

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and whose active participation [br]is important not to lose

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for the school we will go back to.

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And, moreover, to call in universities, [br]faculties, social institutions,

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from soup kitchen to social clubs,

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as part of the social fabric [br]that collaborates

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and feeds back [br]from what goes on at school.

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I don't know how[br]this is going to look like.

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When we reassemble this machine[br]with the pieces we had

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and the new tools we have.

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But I'm sure [br]that in-person schooling

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has to take a super important role

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to build better bonds

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and not to be wasted

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in activities that today[br]we've understood by force

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that can be done remotely,[br]or are obsolete.

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If we go back to the same school, [br]it means we didn't learn anything.

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We owe it to the children,[br]to the teachers, to the families,

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who are making a huge effort

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to guarantee the right to education.

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A really quality education,

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that transforms every one of us [br]from affection,

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as people we are and as citizens.

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We have a unique opportunity [br]that's not going to be given again.

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Not even in a hundred years.

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The challenge is to live up to it

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and take charge of thinking and creating

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a better school, together.