CHUGUR – As schools across Peru closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pedro Castillo tried to find a way to keep classes going for his 20 fifth- and sixth-grade students.
But in his impoverished rural community deep in the Andes, his efforts were futile. Seventeen of the students didn't even have access to a cellphone.
Tablets promised by the government never arrived. “I called my students who have a basic cellphone, and the father answers you from the farm.
You cannot connect with the child," he said. “You call again in the afternoon or evening. The children don't answer because they are exhausted in bed.” “Where is the state?” Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press after a day of planting sweet potatoes on his own land.