In Pictures

In Pictures: Mexico’s Indigenous children struggle for education

Distance learning is difficult amid the COVID pandemic, with the impoverished south lacking access to internet or TV.

A boy member of the Santiago family, is homeschooled in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandoning t — Internet and televisions are an unattainable luxury in the homes of San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo in the mountains of southern Mexico. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

In the poverty-stricken mountains of southern Mexico, children can only dream of having the internet or television access that would allow them to join millions of others following distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Children across the country began a new school year last month with remote learning via television, a move aimed at curbing the spread of the disease in a country that has reported 73,000 COVID-19 deaths – the fourth-highest tally in the world.

But in the homes of San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, a windswept village in one of the country’s poorest regions, there are no such modern-day luxuries.

The outbreak’s impact on Indigenous children’s access to education is just the latest chapter in a long history of marginalisation of the Indigenous communities of Mexico.

“There are no computers, there’s no internet, there’s no television signal and the electricity goes out when it rains,” said teacher Jaime Arriaga.

When he could teach face-to-face classes, Arriaga stayed all week in the remote area to avoid the more than two-hour drive along a winding, sometimes unpaved road from the region’s main city, Tlapa.

Today, the 33-year-old visits every two weeks to bring educational material and meet parents in the community perched 3,000 metres (nearly 10,000 feet) above sea level in Guerrero state.

“We have no other way,” he said.

Arriaga watched from the doorway as 25-year-old Natalia Vazquez helped her daughter Viridiana do her schoolwork in their modest home.

Arriaga’s classroom in San Miguel, where 22 children used to study, now serves as a warehouse or improvised dining room.

Instead, Celso Santiago’s three children study in their house with wooden walls and an earthen floor.

The 29-year-old farmer said he would try to make sure his children did not fall behind, but he worried it would be difficult.

“We have jobs and I can’t be taking care of the children,” he said. “If they couldn’t learn much from what the teacher taught before, now we’re going to be worse off with this pandemic.”

Illiteracy among adults makes homeschooling an even bigger challenge, Santiago said.

“We’re in an area that’s highly marginalised and falling behind in education because many parents don’t even know how to read or write,” he said.

Mexican rural teacher Jaime Bruno, 33, takes books to a school in Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandoning — Jaime Arriaga, 33, a teacher in rural Mexico takes books to a school in Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero state. Despite the pandemic, teachers refused to abandon their students in this impoverished Indigenous region. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

Natalia Vazquez (R) helps her daughter to take a lesson at their home in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers re — Natalia Vazquez helps her daughter with a lesson at their home in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

View of San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandoning their students in this impoverished indigenous r — In the municipality of Cochoapa el Grande, home to San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, 82 percent of the population is Indigenous and on average, they complete only a quarter of basic education.[Pedro Pardo/AFP]

Locals are pictured in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandoning their students in this impoverishe — Some 200 people live in the village, where many houses lie empty, their owners having left to look for work in northern Mexico or across the border in the United States. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

Gildardo Rojas (L) takes a lesson at his house in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandoning their s — Gildardo Rojas works on a lesson at his house in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

Natalia Vazquez (L) and her daughter Viridiana Rojas are photographed in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers re — The lack of medical centres makes the region highly vulnerable, but the area has so far avoided a major outbreak of the coronavirus, helped by its remote location and sparse population. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]

Children members of the Santiago family, are homeschooled in San Miguel Amoltepec Viejo, Guerrero state, Mexico, on September 8, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Teachers resist abandon — Santiago believes the villagers have stronger immunity because they eat what they grow themselves and not food that is "canned and chemical" like in the cities. [Pedro Pardo/AFP]