Now that schools in Mexico remain closed for the time being, children can follow education via television

Normally, Alan would be at school at 1:00 pm and his father would be able to focus his full attention on his small restaurant in Escandón, a middle-class neighborhood in Mexico City. However, like all schoolchildren in the country, Alan is at home. On August 3, the Mexican government decided that the schools should remain closed for the time being because of the corona pandemic, which killed more than 60,000 Mexicans. To save the school year, which began on August 24, the government hastily came up with an experimental solution: more than thirty million students in public schools have been taking their lessons on television since last week. Mexico is the only country in the world that approaches education in that way and scale in times of corona. The lessons are broadcast daily on special channels; parents must first configure their TVs for this.

Lessons are difficult to follow due to a bad signal
It’s not the only complaint about TV education. As of last week, parents across the country have been saying that the signal from the broadcasts is sometimes so bad that their children can barely follow the lessons. If you experience a slow signal while watching, you can use a tool such as ‘iptv subscription’ to fix the reception. They are also concerned that their children are having trouble staying on track. However, according to the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, this is the best way to keep as many children as possible in school for the coming months. Outside of urban areas, less than half of Mexicans have the internet. 93 percent of households do have a television.

Lessons via Zoom at private schools
That personal contact has more than five million students in private education, too expensive for many Mexicans. Private schools have more money and infrastructure and therefore the possibility to offer the lessons via the video application Zoom. Likewise, five-year-old Joel. Every day at nine in the morning he sits down in a corner of the living room in an apartment in Mexico City for a laptop. His classes last, with a handful of breaks in between, until two in the afternoon. Joel does his best, even if the connection stutters for a moment. Every now and then he tries to answer a question from the teacher, but then Mother Elizabeth Islas has to step in to turn on the microphone.

Double work for parents
Yet even this form of distance education is far from ideal, she sighs: “For me, it is double work. I have my job, but I also have to keep an eye out for Joel if he threatens to be distracted. Last week, when the school year started. , it went reasonably well, but this week is chaotic. The pressure on the parents is great. ” In recent weeks, teachers and parents have frequently voiced their concern about the risk of lagging behind in distance education for pupils. That’s unwelcome news in Mexico, where the quality of education is already lagging behind other major countries in the region.