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Guatemala Teacher Pedals Mobile School to Children Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
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2,648Views
2020Jul 27
When the novel coronavirus closed Guatemala's schools in mid-March, teacher Gerardo Ixcoy invested his savings in a secondhand, adult tricycle. But this is not just transportation. It's also a mobile classroom, with plastic sheets to protect against virus transmission, a whiteboard and a small solar panel that powers an audio player he uses for some lessons. The classroom-on-a-trike was born of necessity. Illiteracy in the area is about 42%. And in the entire department or province, only about 13% of homes have internet. "I wanted to help them because they lacked technological tools, such as computers, printers, internet", Ixcoy said. So each day, the 27-year-old teacher pedals among the cornfields of Santa Cruz del Quiché to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students. Ixcoy is known universally as "Lalito 10", a childhood nickname that stuck. For the kids, the sound of the bicycle's bell announces the classes that break up the monotony of weeks in quarantine. Ixcoy tries to visit each of his students twice a week. Each time, he deploys a mop to measure the distance between him and his students. Eleven-year-old Oscar Rojas, wearing a face mask, recently met Ixcoy in the doorway of his home. The pandemic has really altered Oscar's routine, "because now I'm not receiving normal classes", he said. "Teacher Lalito only comes for a little while to teach me, but I learn a lot." Ixcoy recalls his students laughing when they first saw him pedalling into town, but he said the children soon realised he was there to help them. "I believe they are my engine, the fuel to keep on pedalling to help them learn", he said. "In the same way they have taught me a lot: they are teaching me how to teach." Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL: Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake Subscribe to our newsletter: https://bit.ly/2FJ0oQZ Email us at quicktakenews@gmail.com QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.

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