Watch this video to learn about School the World's COVID Response:

2020 + 2021

Throughout the last two years, our focus was to improve the consequences of the pandemic and lessen the inequities heightened by the focus on distance learning, especially online learning, in our extremely poor rural communities while schools were closed.

SUMMER SCHOOL

A multiple week Summer School in both Guatemala and Honduras aimed at catching children up and getting them ready to learn again! Our staff trained teachers and University students to lead multigrade classes using MOE guides and activities developed by our staff to focus on the competencies identified as weak during our pre-testing in 2020.

Summer School 2021
TABLET PILOT PROGRAM

One tablet per family plays a critical role in closing resource gaps between urban and rural schools during remote learning and beyond. Through trainings, families and teachers learn how to use preloaded education apps such as Khan Academy so that they can continue learning while at home!

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VIRTUAL & IN-CLASSROOM TEACHER TRAINING

Our Virtual Teacher Training will be available again for any teachers who were not able to participate last year. We will also be facilitating classroom-based coaching for our teachers at least several times a month. These trainings will be focused on individualized teaching methods to identify each student's needs and how to get them caught up after missing an entire year of school in 2020. 

WHATSAPP SUPPORT GROUPS FOR GIRLS

A pandemic can create uncertain, and unsafe environments for girls as they no longer have the safe haven of a school. Teenage girls are at risk of entering early marriage and/or suffering abuse. Their families' economic situations, could also send the girls into the labor force instead of attending school. We created WhatsApp Support Groups to give them back their safe space. They always have someone to turn to. We also created work guides with trainings, teaching them about their rights, how to stay safe, report violence and how teenage pregnancy and early marriage can deeply affect their lives.

BOOK EXCHANGE PROGRAM

These children do not have books at home. In order to keep kids reading, we created a library exchange program, allowing them to "check out" a book every other week. This allowed our children to escape into a book and continue to improve their literacy skills while at home!

PEER TUTORING: HONDURAS

Our Honduran communities are so remote that the majority do not have any cell signal. Our Peer-to-Peer Tutoring Program recruits Middle School students to tutor younger students in their community for 4 hours a week. The middle school students receive an achievement award at the end of the year for their service and learn leadership skills!

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PHONE TUTORING: GUATEMALA

In partnership with a local Guatemalan University and the Ministry of Education, children have access to a phone tutor throughout the school year. University students tutor children for 30+ minutes twice a week. 

INEXPENSIVE SMARTPHONES

Majority of students that were reported as "LOW" or "NO" participation in our 2020 middle school scholarship program did not have access to a cell phone. That is why we are providing pre-loaded inexpensive smartphones to facilitate better participation in our WhatsApp support groups and online classes while schools remain closed or on "off" hybrid days.

RADIO PROGRAM

Children in these rural communities might not have a TV, computer or internet, but they do have radios! Programs for the entire family were broadcasted on local radio stations in Guatemala and Honduras with weekly lessons, story-time and a seat-gripping "Radio-Novela" filled with advice for parents!

WORKGUIDE DEVELOPMENT & DELIVERY

The children we serve live in remote areas, often far removed from cell service due to geography and poverty. That means they cannot access work guides through WhatsApp, so we found a way to create our own and safely hand-deliver them.