Bolivia’s interim government’s resolve to suspend the school year due to the Covid-19 pandemic in one of the poorest rural countries in the region promises to lead more young people to paint and for longer hours.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Yoel Aricona Rivera, 14, spent his weeks at school earning tips to clean and buy food at the general cemetery in the city of Sacaba, but with the closure, this source of income was sewn up and with the cancellation of the school, he now works almost full-time as a structure assistant. “The cemetery closed and needed money,” he says.
Sandra Paco Araas, who has been selling chocolates on the streets of Cochabamba since she was 10, already sees it among her peers: “Because they have nothing to do at home, they are working,” she says.
The accumulation of time in the hands of the country’s youth is compounded by the fact that many parents of low-income families have now run out of paint due to closure, increasing pressure on young people to generate income.
Observers expect the number of young people to increase as a result of the cancellation of the school year.
“They will come out younger and paint so they can keep eating, because food is a fundamental necessity,” said Sandra Caiguara, director of the Brother Manolo Center Child Support Foundation.
“Now the priority is to have anything to eat. Education is in the background.
Bolivia’s Presidency Minister Yerko Nuez announced that the school year would end in August and that schoolchildren would begin reading their next school year in 2021. “We are involved that in the provinces and many sectors of our country there is no internet, so it is not imaginable to finish the classes,” he said at a press conference. Bolivia is one of the first countries to officially suspend schooling until next school year due to the pandemic, along with Kenya.
The Bolivian government has declared a strict blockade due to coronavirus as of March 23, allowing only other people to faint essentially as food and medicine. At the time, Anah, 17, asked VICE News not to use her genuine name. , lost her job as a waitress on the weekend, now that she does not return to school she works 3 days a week portraying a space in her neighborhood in the village of Cochabamba, hours have passed, but the salary has gone down: she earns 80 Bolivians (about $11) per day, to 90 ($13) in the restaurant.
“We have to paint because the costs have gone up and our parents can’t because there are no pictures,” he said. She spends her salary on fundamental goods such as food and water.
The resolution to suspend the public education formula highlights social inequalities in Bolivia. While many schools say they will retire to continue volunteer online courses, not everyone has the resources to keep up. The Zoom video conferencing service has also become a new major cost. . ” Zoom uses your camera and this passes more data. Our teachers tell us not to use our cameras for that,” Anahi said. “There are others who don’t even want to attend [virtual] classes. “
Middle- and upper-class urban families have strong internet access and a parent at home to help young people with house paintings. “[Parents] who are professionals can continue to teach their children,” Caiguara said. “But those who paint from 7 a. m. to 7 a. m. go home tired and themselves haven’t studied. “
But in low-income families, it’s not uncommon for everyone to paint, adding children. In 2014, Bolivia legalized child labour from the age of 10, subject for certain situations: they can paint alone from the age of 10 and for a 3rd from the age of 12 Bolivian law stipulates that paintings deserve not to be harmful or interfere in the education of children, but those situations are not met.
The resolution generated strong complaints from the foreign community, however, the country’s children’s and youth unions argued that the law only provides legal coverage for paintings they were already making so that their families can simply do the essentials, such as food and school supplies.
In rural Bolivia, young people harvest crops and some paintings in mines, while in urban spaces they do jobs such as promoting sweets, polishing shoes or running at market stalls. and shops.
Approximately 35% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2018, according to Bolivia’s National Statistical Institute. This figure will increase especially as a result of the pandemic, and the country’s economy is expected to contract by 5. 7% in 2020, according to the score. firm Fitch.
Because schools run out of paintings for a year, many families will receive personal lessons or their children will be prevented from painting.