The fear of going to school
In several schools they have placed banners with announcements that they are continuing online classes or have demanded that managers establish them.
“Going out and being with the uncertainty that perhaps they will encounter a situation of violence generates anguish in teachers, generates overwhelm,” explains Rebeca Murguía, school supervisor of Zone 016 of Special Education.
The Morenoist governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, announced a security operation in schools with the deployment of 300 patrols, one on each campus. The state Secretary of Education also implements the Emerging Plan for Educational Continuity, which seeks to avoid the interruption of classes.
But a good part of The Sinaloa school community considers that the state government has minimized the seriousness of the situation and that the proposed actions are not enough because insecurity is not only present around the campuses, but it paralyzes public transportation, businesses, and daily life.
“Sinaloan society is tired of living in fear,” says researcher Ángel Leyva.
The impact on learning
The situation of violence puts teachers in a dilemma: they know that face-to-face classes are necessary, especially after the covid-19 pandemic, when a national confinement was established and, due to distance classes, the learning of many worsened. students. But they also fear for the safety of the students and their own.
When there are in-person classes, other activities are canceled, for example, Christmas posadas. Professor Murguía emphasizes that educational lag is a constant. At the beginning of the school year, a learning diagnosis was applied and in November the results of a first evaluation were delivered: “But what was expected was not achieved with the students, there is a lag in activities, an educational lag,” he laments.
Although the main goal is that the students do not miss the school year, the supervisor also prioritizes supporting the teaching staff.
Every morning is a mystery. If an act of violence is not recorded, classes take place in person. If on the way to school they see or learn of the presence of armed groups, that day classes will be online or students will continue at home with workbooks. This dynamic requires us to be connected to the phone 24/7.
“We teachers have to protect ourselves, but we also have to protect the children or parents,” the teacher shares over the phone.
Ángel Leyva, research director at Mexicanos Primero Sinaloa, recalls that some studies on distance classes in the pandemic have already provided evidence that not attending school impacts the learning and development of girls and boys. The data show that their reading comprehension and mathematical problem solving skills were lower with the virtual sessions.
“If we add to this that in Sinaloa every year classes are lost due to high temperatures, the infrastructure conditions of some schools and now the violence crisis, then the problem deepens further,” he warns.
Online classes are a protection measure, but they generate inequality: only those who have the necessary technological tools can study in this distance modality.
