Schools in China closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. They didn’t reopen.
Then, schools went dark in Europe. The Middle East. Latin America.
During the first half of 2020, 1.5 billion students around the world lost out on education because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In Mexico, about 31 million children were affected. Many had struggled to learn even before the pandemic. Around half of Mexican children and adolescents live in poverty, according to UNICEF.
Mexico’s Education Ministry provided a mix of distance-learning options, including classes online or on public television. But only about half of homes have an Internet connection. And many students rely on schools for food. The shutdown meant hunger as well as reduced education.
In the spring, six photographers started documenting the lives of children affected by the school closure in a project for Quinto Elemento Lab, an independent journalism organization in Mexico City, and Trasluz Photo, a photography collective based in the southeastern state of Veracruz.
Photographers: Selene Ugalde, Luis Antonio Rojas, Félix Márquez, Yael Martínez, Mauricio Palos y Omar Martínes. Text by Stephania CorpiMore info here
