Educating in times of crisis: challenges and alternatives

Abstract

This article deals with education in emergencies, contextualized to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Education in emergencies requires the joint efforts of governmental, social and community institutions, with the purpose of protecting children, adolescents and young people in their right to education and, at the same time, in their biopsychosocial wellbeing. Although the right to education in crisis situations is affected, limited and violated in terms of accessibility, affordability, adaptability and/or acceptability, strategies are defined to guarantee educational continuity, with distance education being the main alternative during the response stage. This must be accompanied by curricular adaptations, which are characterized by their practical, realistic and achievable character; as well as by the socio-emotional education of students, which can promote the healthy elaboration of what has been experienced and stimulate resilience, through the use of playful dynamics and various resources.