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Newsletter on childhood and adolescence
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ISSN electronic version 1816-7535
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© UNICEF Chile/2020/E. González
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The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly generated an unprecedented crisis for the entire world. The most strongly affected region has been Latin America and the Caribbean, which accounts for 18.5% of COVID-19 cases and 30.3% of deaths in the world as of October 2021, while it represents just 8.4% of the total world population. Children and adolescents have not been exempt from the effects, but rather have been particularly hard hit by the reduction in their families’ well-being and income, the forced confinement, the reduction of interpersonal contact, the closure of schools, the loss of their primary or secondary caregivers, the uncertainty and fear and so on. In this edition of the newsletter, the main article analyses the challenges, reversals, and consequences, as well as the opportunities, for secondary education in Latin America and the Caribbean during and after the pandemic. The mental health of those who make up this age group is the focus of Viewpoints. The remaining sections provide resources on positive experiences, documents and research carried out in the past 18 months.
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© UNICEF/UNI354545/Andrade
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Laura Rodríguez
Master’s in Latin American Studies, University of Amsterdam,
Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA)
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The pandemic has had a critical impact on the educational trajectories of children and adolescents in Latin America. Video-call interviews with more than 150 students, teachers, and parents in eight countries in the region (namely, Argentina, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay) in 2020 and 2021 reveal the challenges and opportunities faced in the transition to remote and online education during lockdown. This situation has brought many challenges for students in the framework of the pandemic and exacerbated the existing digital and learning gaps. However, new opportunities have also emerged, which must be taken into account in the design of education policies in the post-pandemic world. While it is true that students would have acquired the knowledge included in the curriculum much more easily in in-person classes, it is wrong to assume that they did not learn anything of value during the pandemic academic year. This article analyses the main challenges, reversals, and consequences, as well as the opportunities, for secondary education in Latin America and the Caribbean during and after the pandemic.
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Claudio A. Castillo, MA
Associate Professor, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile; and Professor,
Centre for Public Health, University of Santiago de Chile
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Despite the achievements of past decades, the future of children and adolescents today is more uncertain. The pandemic exposed inequities —tolerated by our societies until now— not only in terms of health, but also in social and economic areas, which have resulted in a greater impact on vulnerable populations.
Before COVID-19, in Latin America and the Caribbean this group was already harder hit by multidimensional poverty and income poverty, which have negative effects throughout life, as studies have long shown.
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The voices of children and adolescents
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© UNICEF/UN0359852/Schverdfinger
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© UNICEF/UNI389023/Mussapp
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Children’s experience of the pandemic and how they remember this period will largely depend on their fathers, mothers and close caregivers.
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The coronavirus and the measures necessary to reduce and prevent contagion involve a sharp change in the daily lives of everyone, including adults, adolescents and children.
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The Letra Libre Foundation promotes, supports and strengthens the reading and writing process for children in first grade in Chile, through personalized volunteer tutoring.
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Adolescents are given six strategies for facing a new (temporary) normal during the pandemic.
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Students in remote areas of Ecuador continue to learn despite school closures.
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Technology has been a key support for the continuity of health-care services in some Latin American countries during the pandemic.
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The ARCOR Foundation and Equity for Children Latin America (Equidad para la Infancia) organized a webinar to discuss ideas about how the pandemic is affecting childhood.
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This video session was organized by ECLAC and UNICEF in the framework of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development 2021.
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…that during the pandemic, at least 1 in every 1,000 children and adolescents lost their father, mother, grandparent or other caregiver in Latin America?
…that worldwide, 3 out of 5 children who lost a year of school during the pandemic live in Latin America and the Caribbean?
…that according to Chilean parents, the most difficult part of the pandemic for their children has been being stuck inside (not being able to leave the house)?
…that as of September 2021, nearly 2 out of 3 children and adolescents have not yet returned to the classroom in Latin America and the Caribbean?
…that 71% of children in poor households do not have adequate Internet access in seven countries in the region?
…that stress is the predominant emotional state expressed by parents, teachers and students in Chile in June 2021?
….that the majority of adolescents in Panama said that to keep their spirits up, they spend time with their family, do arts and crafts or play with their pets?
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Complete list of the 23 previous bulletins
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© Copyright 2021 ECLAC - United Nations. All Rights Reserved.
Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477 - Vitacura - RM 7630412 - Santiago de Chile
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