Ceibal Foundation presents the closure of the project Rural and Inclusive Digital Education in Honduras

The project “Digital adaptations for effective and inclusive distance education in Honduras”, implemented by the Ceibal Foundation in coordination with SEDUC (the Honduran Secretariat of Education) and funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), is coming to an end after 4 years of uninterrupted work. It was executed with the collaboration of the UNESCO office in San Jose, the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University (UPNFM) of Honduras, and the initial support of Ceibal and the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education through the General Coordination Office of @prende.mx and the General Directorate of Educational Television.

This applied research initiative sought to promote equity and inclusion in education in rural communities in Honduras through the effective use of digital technologies and their adaptations for face-to-face, blended and distance learning. It was implemented in four stages: early diagnosis, analysis of innovations, development of prototypes and sustainable scaling.

As part of the closure of this initiative, a meeting was held with the different players involved throughout these four years of work for the presentation of significant outcomes and findings. The event was held online and was broadcast on YouTube on the UNESCO San Jose channel.

The main observation was that the teaching and learning model proved appropriate for the rural communities – for teachers and students as well as for families and other stakeholders. It was a catalyst for the transformation of educational practices and showed that the use of the limited resources available – such as teachers’ mobile phones, which they shared with students to record images of their surroundings or produce videos – contributed to improving teaching and learning processes and the students’ preparedness for a digitally enriched future. The project also changed the ways of looking on and connecting with technology, regarding it not only as a resource for entertainment but also as being close to formal learning.

The online meeting, which took place on Thursday, December 12, was opened by Diego Vázquez Brust, general project coordinator acting on behalf of the Ceibal Foundation; Alana Domínguez, SEDUC; Florencio Ceballos, representative of IDRC; and Romina Kasman, education specialist at the UNESCO Regional Office in San José. Vázquez Brust presented the outcomes and findings, which were the basis for an exchange of reflections and views by representatives of various institutions such as SEDUC, Zamora Terán, World Vision, Telebásica and Fundación Hombro a Hombro, among others.

The final stage of the project was scaling, which aimed to train teachers from the public education system in different departments of Honduras and provide them with pedagogical tools for the collaborative and participatory use of technologies in support of education. The closing event featured the testimony of four of these teachers: Selene Cardona, Víctor Mercado, Erik Desjardines and Tania Carbajal, who pointed out that the events were enriching and the methodology is very inclusive in that it goes straight to the rural areas. They also remarked that the commitment to giving children a learning opportunity is welcome when it comes to thinking about the future of education.

The closing of the meeting was led by Roberto Porzecanski, director of Ceibal Foundation, who mentioned that this project was a great opportunity to contribute to inclusive, equitable and high-quality education in the region, while promoting knowledge transfer and the building of local capacities for the continuity of these initiatives. He stressed that it was very rewarding to be able to achieve all the project objectives and he hopes that in the future the project can be adapted to other communities at the national level.