Bolivian Parents Take Classes to Help Children Study

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed their sons' school, Bolivian parents Angela Poma and Lorenzo Gutierrez made some big changes. They wanted to give their boys Willy, who is 9, and Carlos, who is 11, the ability to take online classes.

The move to online schooling¹ required the family to buy mobile phones, for example. They also moved from a rural area to the city of Viacha, where they could find better internet service. Viacha is just 22 kilometers southwest of the capital city of La Paz.

The two parents make a living as street vendors², meaning they sell goods and products on the street. They do not earn much money and are spending up to $2 each day for internet service.

Poma and Gutierrez also did not know how to use their new devices.

"I couldn't even turn it on," said Poma about the mobile phone. In the past, she had had a phone "only for calls and that's it."

The family was not alone in their need to learn how technology is used in their children's classes. So a group called the Internet Foundation Bolivia has been putting together classes for parents on how to operate their mobile phones. The foundation is also showing parents how to pay less for internet so they can save money as their children study online.

Not all moms, dads or teachers know of the digital tools that exist for online learning, said Esther Mamani. She is a volunteer with the foundation.

Only around four in 10 people in the Andes Mountain country have internet. The number falls to just three percent in the more rural areas. That information comes from Bolivia's national telecommunications company.

After she completed her studies, Poma went to the front of the class to receive her certificate. Her classmates put their hands together loudly for her. And later, everyone smiled and held up their certificates for a group picture.

Now, Angela Poma and Lorenzo Gutierrez deal with the same issues of sharing and technology time limits as other parents.

"The younger one uses the mobile phone all morning and the older one uses it from three, three-thirty," said Poma. "Sometimes I see my children fighting over the mobile phone when the battery starts running low," she said.

Like other parents worldwide struggling through online classes with their children, Poma wonders how effective online schooling is. "I wish the face-to-face classes would start soon," she said. "My children don't learn a lot with this virtual³ education system."

Words in This Story

certificate - n. a document that is official proof that you have finished school or a course of training

battery - n. a device that is placed inside a machine (such as a phone, clock or car) to supply it with electricity

1 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

2 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 virtual   

adj.实质上的，事实上的，实际上的

参考例句：

• This reply is a virtual acceptance of our offer.这一回答实质上是接受了我们的建议。
• At that time the East India Company was the virtual ruler of Bengal.那时东印度公司是孟加拉的实际统治者。