The Ceibal Foundation and the president of IDRC reflect on education in LATAM

In the context of the visit to Uruguay by the president of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Jean Lebel, the Ceibal Foundation, through its director, María Florencia Ripani, participated in an interview to reflect on the challenges and opportunities for technology-mediated education in Latin America and the role of the Foundation.

Ripani mentioned how the Ceibal Foundation and the network that she leads, Alliance for the Digitalization of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (ADELA), work to address the region’s needs in the area of education. She referred to Ceibal, Uruguay’s national agency for educational innovation, as well as the role that the Foundation played during the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting technical and pedagogical support to meet the needs of policymakers and education authorities in the region.

“Through this network (ADELA), we’re able to systematically share Ceibal’s best practice with other countries in the region but in the knowledge that the solutions can’t be replicated in the same way as they were implemented in Uruguay, and that it’s very important to understand different contexts and think of ways to adapt the solutions and also learn from the different countries”, said Ripani.

In addition, the IDRC president participated in a discussion with the coordinator of the ” Inclusive Rural Digital Education” project, Diego Vázquez-Brust, about the challenges, opportunities, and progress of the project led by the Ceibal Foundation and funded by IDRC and the Global Partnership for Education. This initiative seeks to strengthen the education systems of Honduras and Nicaragua and improve equity and inclusion in rural communities through distance and blended learning modalities.