COVID-19 has affected all areas of society, including education. Nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries had their face-to-face education interrupted due to the closure of educational institutions during the peak of the pandemic, forcing many to resort to online schooling. However, not all students, families or schools could support this new form of schooling, leading to many choosing not to re-enroll. This raised the research question that we aimed to address and explore—did internet access mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on school re-enrollment rates? The aim of this study was to inves tigate the impact of COVID-19 on school re-enrollment rates, focusing on the role of internet access and an additional independent variable—the duration of school closures. Our research sought to determine whether internet access mitigates the effects of COVID-19 on school re-enrollment rates in Mexican municipalities. Looking at data from 2012 to 2022, the findings highlight the significant role of connectivity in mitigating the impact o f COVID-19-related school closures on primary school re-enrollment rates. While the study offers valuable insights for Mexico, it also opens the door for comparative studies with similar countries and further investigations into the digital divide’s nuances.
Angrist, N., de Barros, A., Bhula, R., Chakera, S., Cummiskey, C., DeStefano, J. et al. (2021). Building Back Better to Avert a Learning Catastrophe: Estimating Learning Loss from COVID-19 School Shutdowns in Africa and Facilitating Short-Term and Long-Term Learning Recovery. International Journal of Educational Development, 84, Article ID: 102397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102397
Banco de Información de Telecomunicaciones, Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. https://bit.ift.org.mx/BitWebApp/
Carrazco Zendejas, S. G. (2021). La Problemática Educativa en México: Lo que Dejó la Pandemia por COVID-19. Dilemas contemporáneos: Educación, política y valores, 8 (SPE4). https://doi.org/10.46377/dilemas.v8i.2775
Castedo, M., Dávalos, A., Moller, M. A., & Soto, A. (2022). Ensenar a Leer y Escribir en Contextos Diversos. Aportes para la formación docente. DGES.
Chatterji, P., & Li, Y. (2021). Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Outpatient Providers in the United States. Medical Care, 59, 58-61. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001448
Cliburn, E., & Bohanon, M. (2020). Battling High Dropout and Low Enrollment Rates Requires Proactive, Empathetic Measures. Insight into Diversity. https://www.insightintodiversity.com/battling-high-dropout-and-low-enrollment-rates-requires-proactive-empathetic-measures/
Comisión Nacional para la Mejora Continua de la Educación (2020). Experiencias de las Comunidades Educativas Durante la Contingencia Sanitaria por COVID-19. MEJOREDU.
Cristia, J., Czerwonko, A., & Garofalo, P. (2014). Does Technology in Schools Affect Repetition, Dropout and Enrollment? Evidence from Peru. Journal of Applied Economics, 17, 89-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1514-0326(14)60004-0
Data Mexico. Data Retrieved from Gobierno de México. https://datamexico.org/es
Dee, T. S., & Murphy, M. (2021). Patterns in the Pandemic Decline of Public School Enrollment. Educational Researcher, 50, 566-569. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211034481
El Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social (CONEVAL). Medición de la Pobreza. Data Retrieved from CONEVAL. https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/MP/Paginas/Que-es-la-medicion-multidimensional-de-la-pobreza.aspx
Espíndola, E., & León, A. (2002). La deserción escolar en América Latina: Un tema prioritario para la agenda regional. Revista Iberoamericana De Educación, 30, 39-62. https://doi.org/10.35362/rie300941
Eze, U. N., Sefotho, M. M., Onyishi, C. N., & Eseadi, C. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education in Nigeria: Implications for Policy and Practice of e-Learning. Online Submission.
Fairlie, R. W. (2005). The Effects of Home Computers on School Enrollment. Economics of Education Review, 24, 533-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2004.08.008
Fuentes Cardona, M. G. (2022). Whatsapp en el Quehacer del Magisterio. Nuevas Arenas de Participación Docente en la Vida Escolar. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 27, 1279-1304.
García, S. (2020). COVID-19 and Primary and Secondary Education: The Impact of the Crisis and Public Policy Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean. UNICEF- UNDP. https://www.unicef.org/lac/media/16856/file/CD19-PDS-Number20-UNICEF-Educacion-EN.pdf
Gobierno de México (2020). Aprende en Casa ii, 2020. Data Retrieved from Gobierno de México. https://aprendeencasa.sep.gob.mx/
Gobierno de México (a). Semáforo COVID-19. Data Retrieved from Gobierno de México. https://coronavirus.gob.mx/semaforo/
Gobierno de México (b). Sistema Interactivo de Consulta de Estadística Educativa. Data Retrieved from Gobierno de México. https://www.planeacion.sep.gob.mx/principalescifras/
Harsha, R., & Bai, T. (2020). COVID-19 Lockdown Challenges to Higher Education. Cape Comorin, 2, 26-28.
Huepe, M., Palma, A., & Trucco, D. (2023). Education during the Pandemic: An Opportunity to Transform Education Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Social Policy Series, No. 243, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8dee82aa-7b0d-42f9-862f-439506302cd7/content
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática INEGI (2020a). Encuesta Nacional sobre Disponibilidad y Uso de Tecnologías de la Información en los Hogares (ENDUTIH) 2020. Data Retrieved from INEGI. https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/MP/Paginas/Que-es-la-medicion-multidimensional-de-la-pobreza.aspx
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática INEGI (2020b). Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020. Data Retrieved from INEGI. https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/ccpv/2020/
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática INEGI (2021a). Disponibilidad y Uso de tic. México: Gobierno de México. Data Retrieved from INEGI. https://www.inegi.org.mx/temas/ticshogares/
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática INEGI (2021b). Resultados de la Encuesta para la Medición del Impacto COVID-19 en la Educación (ecovid-ed) 2020 Datos Nacionales. Comunicado dé prensa núm 185/21. Data Retrieved from INEGI. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2021/OtrTemEcon/ECOVID-ED_2021_03.pdf
Lai, J., & Widmar, N. O. (2021). Revisiting the Digital Divide in the COVID-19 Era. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43, 458-464. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13104
Means, B., & Neisler, J. (2021). Teaching and Learning in the Time of Covid: The Student Perspective. Online Learning, 25, 8-27. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v25i1.2496
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] (2020). Education and COVID-19: Focusing on the Long-Term Impact of School Closures. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/education-and-COVID-19-focusing-on-the-long-term-impact-of-school-closures-2cea926e/
Reimers, F., & Schleicher, A. (2020). Un Marco para Guiar una Respuesta Educativa a la Pandemia del 2020 del COVID-19 (p. 62). Ensena Perú.
Rodríguez, E. C. et al. (2016). Rendimientos Monetarios de la Escolaridad. Un Análisis por Grados de Marginación y Desigualdad Educativa en México. Economía Coyuntural. Revista de Temas de Perspectivas y Coyuntura, 1, 23-72.
Tomaszewski, W., Zajac, T., Rudling, E., Te Riele, K., McDaid, L., & Western, M. (2022). Uneven Impacts of COVID-19 on the Attendance Rates of Secondary School Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds in Australia: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Administrative Data. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 58, 111-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.219
UNESCO (2020a). Adverse Consequences of School Closures. https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/consequences
UNESCO (2020b). Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_COVID-19_and_education_august_2020.pdf
UNESCO (2020c). COVID-19 Response—Re-Enrolment: Identifying Students at Risk of Dropout and Encouraging a Return to School, with a Focus on Equity and in Particular, Girls. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373765.locale=en
Vincent-Lancrin, S., Cobo Romaní, C., & Reimers, F. (2022). How Learning Continued during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Lessons from Initiatives to Support Learners and Teachers. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/bbeca162-en
Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child Development and Emergent Literacy. Child Development, 69, 848-872. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06247.x
Zhai, W., Liu, M., Fu, X., & Peng, Z.-R. (2021). American Inequality Meets COVID-19: Uneven Spread of the Disease across Communities. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111, 2023-2043. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1866489