Lockdown Won’t Stop Our Kids from Learning, Say Small-Town Moms

When the corona pandemic hit, the small communities that once relied on Ecuador’s largest city of Guayaquil for education purposes took it upon themselves to teach children in their remote villages, and saw their sense of community renew – and grow!

“We committed ourselves because of the love we have for the community,” says María Teresa Caicedo, 23, one of the three women who took charge of the community school in Playa de Oro, a tiny African-Ecuadorian community of some 80 families. Mothers volunteered to give extra classes to the 50 primary school students. Parents pooled their money to install internet antennas and buy mobile phones to ensure their children could continue with their classes.

Isolated populations, like the indigenous Karanki community of San Clemente and the African-Ecuadorian community of Playa de Oro, suffered from the closure of schools due to the pandemic. According to UNICEF, some 4.6 million students nationwide were affected, and two-thirds did not have access to the internet. Consequently, community schools reopened to promote cultural identity and language. The indigenous population accounts for 7% of the overall population, and the African-Ecuadorian, for about 8%.