As many of you know, the school year in Guatemala starts in January and ends in October. Because of Covid, the start date is being moved few weeks. It is this Monday, February 22nd!
The teachers and TINFA took advantage of these few weeks of delay to jump start the 2021 program. This year, the program welcomes the four schools that are on their second year of the two-year program: San Antonio Buena Vista and San Pedrito, both in the administrative district of El Palmar; and La Felicidad and Candelaria Xolhuitz in Nuevo San Carlos, Guatemala. The program will also include eight “new” schools. (more on these schools later).
The Guatemalan government has established protocols for COVID-safe classroom instruction and, for the first time in many months, teachers are being given the opportunity to receive on-site training and hands-on experience with the technology.
Guidelines for the safe reopening of schools from the Guatemalan Ministry of Education
For the Basic and Intermediate level classes, it was essential to conduct the training in person so that teachers could learn the essential use of a computer, how to create a Zoom account, and be comfortable with learning online. Several teachers expressed their excitement in the possibility to learn technology and to do so remotely.
We wanted to conduct these trainings before the official start of school, so that it would not conflict with the maximum COVID capacity when the classes are in session. In compliance with social distancing guidelines, these sessions were divided into small groups of no more than ten participants. Each session was repeated to be certain that all the teachers, especially at the the basic and intermediate levels, had the necessary skills to continue their training online.
The teachers in the advanced training did not want to be left behind and had their first training session too! For them however, there was no need to meet in person, and the first training was conducted online.
That day finally arrived last Wednesday. The Guatemalan government had established protocols for COVID-safe classroom instruction and, for the first time in many months, teachers were given the opportunity to receive on-site training and hands-on experience with the technology.
The year ahead
The 2021 school year in Guatemala begins the week of February 22. The instruction the kids receive this year will be a hybrid of in-classroom, at-home, and when possible, online learning. But after a difficult year of social isolation, many teachers are up to the challenge, arriving with new skills in mobile networking and online collaboration that had kept them and their students engaged through the quarantines and lock-downs.
In subsequent posts, you’ll learn about the other eight schools in the program (spoiler alert, we call them “Master” schools) and the eight schools who are on their “COVID extension” as they were originally scheduled to graduate in December 2020.