PROJECT

The first two years of the pandemic required new investments and the rescue of old commitments in the field of education. However, this was not a reality in Maré and other peripheral territories. Based on the experiences of the campaign Maré says NO to coronavirus and the research Educations of Girls and COVID-19 in Maré, carried out by Redes da Maré in partnership with the Malala Fund in 2020, it has become a necessity to identify the impacts of the pandemic in the education of students from the 6th to the 9th year of Elementary School, and from the 1st to 3rd year of High School, in their families and teachers.

The research, in partnership with Instituto Unibanco, gathered 18 public schools from the 16 Favelas of Maré - state and municipal -, including establishments for Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and one for Technical Education.

The Redes da Maré team went out to understand what were, in fact, the challenges of the school community - in the 20 months of 2020 and 2021 - in which pedagogical activities suffered so many upheavals: suspension of face-to-face classes, remote education, hybrid system and reopening of schools.

At first, 89 interviews were carried out with municipal and state managers, principals, pedagogical coordinators, teachers, as well as parents and students from all public schools in Maré. Then, more than 830 questionnaires were applied to the same groups of 13 schools. See the results here!

SEE THE FULL SURVEY (PDF)

STUDENTS

Among the reasons given by students in relation to lack of motivation, are the difficulty of adapting to remote education (35%), learning problems (28%), difficulty in organizing (20%) or studying (18%). 16% of the students said they did not understand what they needed to do to continue with their studies. The difficulties were also of an emotional nature, such as lack of motivation (21%) and sadness (9%), in addition to problems with their own health (9%).

"I didn't make it, I didn't study. I won't be lie, pretending I was a great student. I'm floating in 7th grade. I won't lie to you; I really didn't study."

7th year student

“I completed the 9th grade, I passed, and I was supposed to have enrolled. But since this pandemic, I couldn't. It closed everything and it became very difficult. So, I didn't study for a year. Just on my own, researching, so as not to lose, you know, but I wasn't enrolled in the school.”

Former student

“By not having the presence of the teacher, it becomes more difficult, so we have to make an effort to understand the subjects and remain focused.”

1st year student

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Although 390 students (62%) reported that they carried out school activities during the pandemic, and that they have a cell phone with internet, access was not enough for them to feel that they learned enough, given that 74% of them claim to have learned little or nothing. The data points to the importance of the role of the school and the teacher, of interaction in the learning process.

“Here at my house, my remote study was only through WhatsApp. [...] I didn't have access to any of those things at school, because I don't know much about internet. For my convenience, it’s more WhatsApp, really.”

EJA student

“The application [of the state network] is very difficult, neither I could understand, nor she. There is no communication, because they only ask to enter the application and there is no way to enter it.”

Mother of a 9th grade student

EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS

Among the factors that contributed to the reduction of motivation to work, according to the reports, are physical and mental health problems, uncertainties about the health safety of the resumption of face-to-face classes, difficulties in the use of remote teaching technologies and frustration for not producing the expected results or because they feel that they do not receive due recognition.

"The teacher is extremely overloaded, because he sees the student at 7 am and 10 pm, which is when the father arrives and can ask questions. The teacher sees the student on Saturday, because the father works from Monday to Friday. I am very concerned about my teacher's mental and physical health.”

School Principal

“I couldn't have a direct relationship with the students. I set up the activities, prepared the class, filmed and the bridge was WhatsApp. I had the parents' group, I passed the activities on to the group, and they passed these activities on to the students, because the students didn't have cell phones. Often this cell phone belonged to the responsible who was working.”

Teacher

PARENTS AND/OR RESPONSIBLE

“Does not understand the content”, “The student does not ask for help”, “Does not have time” and “Because he/she cannot read” were some of the reasons reported by them.

"This WhatsApp business is stressful. For example, my daughter is at 9th grade, I have up to 4th grade, how am I going to teach her something I didn't study?"

Mother of a 9th grade student

“There are people in charge who can't read, who can't write. I have parents who are almost blind, whose vision is very low. So, we thought about the font size of the letters of the activities, the file format. Sometimes you have a file that if you zoom in it loses resolution. We had to think about all of that.”

School Principal

ACTIVE SEARCH

In partnership with the Municipal Department of Education, the Active Search front of the ‘Impacto de Vida’ project, coordinated by Redes da Maré, has as its main objective the inclusion of children who are out of school or in a situation of dropout. The initiative started in January 2021, working in the 16 favelas of Maré, based on demands passed on by educational institutions. There are seven articulators who carry out home visits to understand what is happening, insert the child into school and then follow up.

According to project data, from March 2021 until the end of this research, the active search service had already identified 983 adolescents and children who had dropped out of school. The numbers come from lists provided by public schools in Maré, but it is important to remember that with the team in the field, more students were found far from these school databases.

The most common reasons for non-adherence to the remote activities offered were: lack or difficulty in accessing the internet, lack of a mobile device, difficulty in accessing or carrying out activities, family in poverty, lack of interest in studies and lack of vacancy at a school close to the residence.

It was also reported by education professionals that, through the families' search for food baskets, education professionals were able to locate students at risk of dropping out, update records, make an active search and increase the level of engagement, that is, the ties between responsible, school and students.

THE RESEARCH ON THE MEDIA

Maré de Notícias | 15.03.2022

Redes da Maré's research reveals the impacts of covid-19 in public schools of the 16 favelas.

RJ2 - TV Globo | 11.03.2022

Subscribers only

Maré de Notícias | 20.07.2021

Maré initiatives seek to reverse school dropout and strengthen public education

Rádio CBN | 21.02/2021

Teachers and students in Rio's favela have lost 'appetite for education' in the pandemic, research shows

CREDITS

Text:
Andréia Martins
Andréia Cidade
Monizza Rizzini

Editing:
Demétrio Weber
Adriana Pavlova

Graphic design and diagramming:
Juliana Barbosa

Revision:
Adriana Pavlova
Eliana Sousa Silva
Luiz Assumpção

Editorial production:
Julia Bruce

RESEARCH STAFF

Research coordination:
Andréia Martins

Researchers:
Andréia Cidade
Juliana Leite

Field supervision:
Alessandra Pinheiro

Field Assistant:
Alessandra Prado

Team of field researchers:
Aline Ádria, Cláudia Martins, Edvania Ferreira, Elza Sousa, Maria Daiane de Araújo, Nívia Claudia Katica and Vanessa Garcia

Data processing and tabulation:
Bianca Cambiaghi
Pamela Matos