A quarter of them do not have internet ... and 4% do not have a TV

The "pandemic" pushes poor Mexican students into the digital age

In an unfinished home, an NGO called Utopia taught students to read, write and math on old computers.

A.F.B.

Although the Corona pandemic closed their school, it also pushed a group of disenfranchised Mexican students, who live next door to a giant landfill, into the digital world.

A project that teaches students how to use computers and the Internet has given them hope for a life far from the mountain of garbage, where their parents recycle waste.

Miguel Tejeda had never used a computer before the arrival of "Covid-19", because those devices were not available at the school of this 14-year-old teenager in Chimeloacan, in the vicinity of the capital.

But over the past six months, he and 200 other students, ages five to 21, have learned basic IT skills, with the help of a Mexican NGO, via old computers donated by a religious association.

"Learning is much easier with computers," said Tejeda, wearing a mask and a plastic face shield.

We have a better understanding of the issues. ”

In classrooms, easily constructed inside an unfinished home, an NGO called "Utopia" teaches students to read, write, and mathematics, as well as how to send files in PDF format.

Digital skills

Mexico, with a population of 126 million, has recorded more than 190,000 deaths from the Coronavirus, the third highest in the world.

After the schools closed, the NGO added digital skills to its educational plan, so students could continue their studies from a distance.

Prior to the outbreak of the health crisis, the founder of the non-governmental organization, Jes فيs Phialobos, said, "For us, teaching them to read was more important than using Word."

This impoverished community is located in one of the most densely populated and violent municipalities in the country, and in the Corte Escalérias neighborhood, which is home to about 5,000 people, mainly working to collect and separate 12,000 tons of garbage per day. Public lighting and running water were laid about a year ago.

Some children help their families search for recyclable waste.

"The first thing the students do, if they stop studying, is to go collect garbage with a donkey, and there, among the rubbish, they lose their life plan," said Yahir Ruiz, coordinator at Utopia.

"Sometimes, the first contact these children have with a computer is when they are 15 or 16 years old, because the schools were not equipped," he added.

Everything became easy

About 30 million students in Mexico were prevented from attending school due to the epidemic, which prompted the government to start distance education via television or the Internet.

According to UNESCO, about a quarter of Mexican students, between the ages of seven and 17, do not have an Internet connection and 4.4% do not have a television.

High school student Norma Hernandez does not have a computer at home and can only watch two channels on her television, due to poor transmission.

And her mother finally subscribed to the Internet, so that her brother Armando Alvarado, 17, could attend virtual classes on his mobile phone, while he says he has overcome his fear of using the computer.

"The first time, when they started teaching me here on the use of a computer, I was afraid, because I thought I would have to take it apart, and so on," adds Alvarado, who learned to read at the age of 12 with the help of the organization.

"When they started my education, everything became easy," he said.

A non-governmental project teaches them to use the computer and the Internet away from the mountain of garbage where their parents work in "waste recycling."

Utopia: “The first thing students do if they stop studying is to go to collect garbage, and there they lose their life plan.”

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