Early Childhood Challenges in the Post-Pandemic Period

CAF invites you to this seminar where the latest knowledge will be discussed in relation to the consequences of the pandemic for children in early childhood. The situation in Uruguay and the region with regards to the pandemic will be reviewed, highlighting the most challenging current aspects. Public policies focusing on this context and the perspective of international organizations such as UNICEF and CAF will also be discussed.

One of the most important effects that COVID-19 has had is the suspension of school activities, including the closure of schools and early childhood care centers, affecting more than 150 million children and young people in the region. This has deprived them not only of learning, but in many cases of food and health, as well as safe and stimulating environments.

In this context, the different administrations took measures that impacted children, both before joining the school system and afterwards. For example, international organizations have studied the effects of the pandemic on children and adolescents, among other related topics. In the field of care for children and young people, distance education was the main tool used, based mainly on technology to provide continuity for learning paths. However, the deployment of these tools has been facing obstacles such as access to the internet and devices as well as the digital skills required from both teachers and students. In the case of early childhood, the situation has been much more complex because the use of technology has many more limitations due to the particular characteristics of the group in question. This age group has therefore been one of the most neglected.