She succeeded in developing her distance education 10 years ago
Uruguay surpasses advanced countries in providing education during the Corona pandemic
Uruguay built an infrastructure for traditional education that facilitated the transition to distance education
A student studying at home.
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Uruguay has been investing in digital education even long years before the spread of the Corona pandemic, as it made this type of education accessible to all students.
For this reason, the country's education system is more prepared for epidemic conditions than most other countries in the region, and also better than many wealthy countries in the West.
While some teachers in Germany could not communicate with their students for several weeks during the Corona pandemic, there was a continuous response between students and teachers in Uruguay.
Instead of unclear scans and erroneous internet links that mask content and are hard to find in most countries, Uruguay has been able to offer schoolchildren digital textbooks with science experiments, homework in the form of tests or games, interactive video conferences, personal exercises, and chats for Clarify any questions students ask.
Free internet services
It has already been more than 10 years since the country - as one of six countries around the world in this field - introduced a "laptop per student" policy.
Moreover, Uruguay has been providing free internet service in public squares all over the country, including rural areas, and the country has also established a government agency for digital education called Plan Sibal.
"The last school year was generally good," says Plan Cibal's director, Viorela Chaim.
All this makes Uruguay an exception in a region where education is on a catastrophic path, where UNICEF believes that 2020 was a lost year for millions of schoolchildren in Latin America.
The UN agency believes that nearly a third of children have learned hardly anything at all this year, and that more than three million students are likely not to return to school.
Experts believe that the same will apply to 2021, with closures due to "Covid-19" and the subsequent school closures.
"Children, especially from poor families, are the biggest losers in this crisis, and their dream of a better future has been shattered," says Claudia Costin, a former director of education at the World Bank. Corona »The crisis has exacerbated the already severe educational inequalities on the continent.
Flexible handling
85% of students in Uruguay belong to public schools.
"When education was transferred to the Internet last March, we were able to handle the situation with flexibility," Haim says.
Plan Sibal has been providing continuing education for teachers for years and running a central platform for digital textbooks, through which trainings and content can be downloaded.
At the start of the pandemic, Plan Sibal basically expanded its server capacity overnight.
In addition, the country has begun offering 50 gigabytes of free internet per student per month.
"98% of children take digital lessons regularly," Haim says, and poor children in rural areas share this.
The Uruguayan example illustrates first and foremost that digital education materials are essential, which is why Plan Sibal also encourages the development of innovative software solutions.
Plan Sibal, for example, bought the digital book "Ed Sensia", which teaches children the natural sciences in a fun and entertaining way. The book looks like a comic material, with a cat helping in physics experiments, for example.
"We want digital lessons to be fun and stimulating for children," says the book's developer, Federico Bello. "To achieve this goal, we are working with educational experts and psychologists."
Bello left his job at the Central Bank of Uruguay in 2018 to found the company “Ido Aditorial” with two of his friends.
They are currently working on a new platform called Bucky, which is designed to help teachers produce exciting digital presentations.
"Lessons can be combined with experiments, animation, videos, interactive games and quizzes," Bello says.
Instead of unclear scans and erroneous internet links that mask content and are difficult to find in most countries, Uruguay has been able to offer schoolchildren digital textbooks with science experiments, homework in the form of tests or games, interactive video conferences, personal exercises, and chats for Clarify any questions students ask.
85% of students in Uruguay belong to public schools. And when education switched to the Internet last March, the authorities were able to handle the situation with flexibility.
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