Latin America Hosts UNESCO Global Launch of Education Monitoring Report on Technology and Education

The event, held for the first time in Latin America, took place this Wednesday and Thursday, in Montevideo, Uruguay, and brought together ministers, experts, academics, representatives of civil organizations and the private sector, teachers and students from Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world to reflect on the main findings and recommendations of the report.

On Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 July, the Director General of Schools, José Thomas, participated in the Global Launch of UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM), which was It was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, where ministers, experts, academics, representatives of civil organizations and the private sector, teachers and students from Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world analyzed the main findings and recommendations of the report.

In what was the first time in the history of the GEM Report that this key milestone in the global education calendar was carried out in Latin America, it was possible to learn about and discuss the results of the report on technology and education, which addresses the debates and examines the challenges related to the appropriate use of technology and the solutions that it can offer, such as access, equity and inclusion, quality, technological progress and better management of education systems.

Representing Argentina was the Minister of Education of the Nation, Jaime Perczyk, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Science and Technology of Misiones, Miguel Sedoff, and Thomas Mendoza, who stated: “the report contains a somewhat severe vision in A term for the use of technology in the classroom, especially when it does not have a purely pedagogical purpose, refers to the great investment that resides in having a device per student, especially if that purpose does not exist”.

“For this reason, at this moment it is important to highlight our EDUTEC Program, with a proposal of computers accompanied by a lot of training, accompaniment, pedagogy and rotation of the devices,” added the head of DGE.

In this sense, EDUTEC (Universal Digital Education with Connected Technology) proposes the genuine inclusion of technologies in the educational field for the design and construction of new learning environments, through active methodologies. “EDUTEC is a well-directed post-pandemic sustained experience”, completed the head of the DGE.

During the first day, the report was launched globally, followed by a high-level dialogue on the role of educational technology, and culminated in the Annual Meeting of the Alliance for the Digitalization of Education in Latin America (ADELA). , led by the Ceibal Foundation.

Throughout the following day, the meeting “Learning and Digital Transformation in Latin America: regional and global perspectives” was held, as well as the panel discussion “How can technology providers support the sustainable development of education in the region? , and an event on hybrid models and educational policies organized by UNESCO.

Thomas added that “we took advantage of this event to meet with the president of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) of Uruguay, the directors of CEIBAL, and the Uruguayan Minister of Education, in order to exchange experiences, among them the teaching models of the English through virtuality, and evaluation systems”.

Finally, the report notes that despite the fact that 91% of countries used online learning platforms to provide distance education during school closures, less than half have developed long-term strategies to increase their resilience and the sustainability of interventions, while 31% abandoned distance learning platforms developed during COVID-19.