Remedial Education for Children and Adolescents in Central America in a Postpandemic Context

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a profound economic and social crisis across Latin America and the Caribbean, significantly affecting the population's well-being and creating devastating and often overlooked consequences in the educational sector. These effects have further deepened pre-existing disparities in the region (Huepe et al., 2022). To address the educational crisis, tutoring and academic support have been proposed as key tools to rebuild cognitive and socioemotional skills lost during the confinement period (UNESCO, Banco Mundial, y UNICEF, 2021).

In response to this, Glasswing International, an organization dedicated to children and youth, implemented a remedial education project titled “Rebuilding and Strengthening: Socioemotional and Remedial Support for Students and Teachers” with 2,599 students from third to sixth grade in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The project employed the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) methodology, adapted by the Independent Learning Assessment Program (MIA), to strengthen basic literacy and numeracy skills in centroamerican students.

Pre- and post-intervention diagnostic results revealed that 80% of the participating students achieved the expected level or improved their academic abilities. Qualitative evaluations conducted with 48 community education stakeholders further highlighted that the project not only contributed to academic skill development but also enhanced social and intrapersonal skills. These findings underscore the effectiveness of the TaRL approach in mitigating the negative educational impacts of the pandemic within the Central American context.