Reimagine Education in Latin America and the Caribbean
Digital learning to improve the educational experience for all children and adolescents
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Our challenges
The COVID-19 crisis caused significant learning disruptions in Latin America and the Caribbean. By October 2021, 74 million children were still affected by ongoing school closures1and, as of February 2022, schools had been closed for 225 full days.2
Although many governments offered virtual learning opportunities, their reach was limited and the quality variable. This caused an adverse effect primarily on children and adolescents with disabilities, at lower income levels, in rural areas, belonging to ethnic populations and migrants.
In this context, the digital divide was further aggravated, leaving some 37 million children and adolescents -around 40% of all students in the region- excluded from digital and broadcast remote learning. This is because three out of every 10 people in Latin America and the Caribbean do not have access to the Internet.3
Children and adolescents from rural areas, indigenous and migrant communities, as well as those with disabilities, are among those most likely to miss out on digital learning and are at even higher risk of dropping out of school.
What do we do?
To take advantage of the enormous potential of technology in education, we launched Reimagine Education. This initiative brings together public and private sector leaders with an ambitious vision, commitment, and investment to develop, adapt, and scale-up digital learning solutions to reach the most marginalized learners.
You can learn more about Reimagine Education in Latin America and the Caribbean in this video.
The availability of technology and its potential mean that digital learning should be part of the basic essential services for all children, adolescents and youth.
The pillars of Reimagine Education
1 United Nations Children’s Fund, Reimagine Education and Skills Development for Children and Adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean. Investing in Children and Adolescents as We Build a Next and Better Normal, UNICEF, December 2021.
2 World Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, U.S. Agency for International Development, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 update, World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID, FCDO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, June 2022.
3 World Bank, ‘Data: Individuals using the Internet (% of population)’, World Bank, 2020, available in: <https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS>, accessed 10 October 2022.