Mexico. Math for all through community radio

Date 13.08.2020

Jesus, 12 years old, gets up every day at 5 in the morning to help his mom sell handmade tortillas, a staple food in Mexico. He is in charge of keeping the accounts of the sale, one of his main motivations for studying math.

The current Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted Jesus' schooling, the high school he used to attend spended face-to-face classes and migrated homework to WhatsApp groups, yet neither Jesus nor his family has access to the internet.

In this context, AVSI in Mexico, Centro Lindavista, Sepicj A.C. and Sikanda A.C., with the co-financing of the European Union, launched the "Call to Strengthen the Right to Education of Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Emergency". Carried out within the framework of the Polo Project for Participatory Citizenship with the aim of supporting the distance education projects of 7 collectives and civil society organizations.

One of the beneficiary organizations is Fomento Juvenil Oaxaca A.C., which through the "RADiO Project" teaches math using the community radio in the municipality of Zaachila, the community where Jesus lives.

Thanks to funding from the Polo for Participatory Citizenship project, the organization Fomento Juvenil not only gives classes through the radio but also provides face-to-face advice, in an open space and in compliance with all health regulations, to 14 children and adolescents at the secondary level and 10 at the primary level.

Currently, Jesus has managed to complete the first-grade regularization course, and has decided to enroll in the following regularizations, in order to improve his basic mathematical skills and thus obtain greater agility "in the accounts" of the sale of tortillas.

Since 2018, the Polo for Participatory Citizenship project has carried out various actions to strengthen the actions of more than 200 collectives and civil society organizations in the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla. During the contingency, it has held 12 virtual seminars aimed at collectives and organizations on issues of strengthening internal management, resilience, educational support and exchange of experiences and good health practices to respond to the COVID-19 emergency.