Children study in back of truck in virus-hit Mexico

Author: Agencies

An improvised school in Mexico’s capital is helping underprivileged children keep studying during the pandemic with classes in the street, a blacksmith’s shop and even the back of an old truck.

The project is aimed at students struggling to keep up with a distance-learning program launched by the government for tens of millions of children whose schools have shut. Each morning, after washing their hands, students in face masks squeeze into the back of a pick-up truck parked at the side of a street in Mexico City and sit at desks ready to learn.

“We’ve equipped it with television, internet, a laptop and a smartphone to help disadvantaged children to take their classes,” Dalia Davila, the 34-year-old manager of the project, told AFP.

Under a canopy to protect against the sun, a mother tried to connect an old cellphone to a Wi-Fi network to download teaching materials for her 11-year-old daughter.

A notice informs passers-by: “We ask you for respect, you are entering a study area.”

Around 30 million Mexican children began a new school year last month with distance learning via television in collaboration with four private channels.

Schools have been closed since March in Mexico, which has recorded more than 66,000 coronavirus deaths — one of the world’s highest tolls.