Effects of the Coronavirus in the Education System: The Inequality of Educational Opportunities in Spain Increases

Abstract

The Coronavirus pandemic has closed schools in Spain since mid-March 2020. It is not expected to open this year, except for examinations in upper secondary and at the University. Online teaching, with differential implementation by type of center and region, replaces in this period face-to-face teaching in schools. This telematic educational model increases the inequality of educational opportunities. It highlights the material shortages of electronic devices in the most disadvantaged households, in the households with the lowest incomes and resources, even more so in single-parent households, even more in households with parents of compulsory secondary education or less (father and mother, or worse, only one of them), even more so in public school students and even more so in students living in the Southern Communities, including Galicia and the Canary Islands. Although all the students, and their families, are negatively affected by the closure of the educational centers, almost a million of them (variable according to the registration sources used) are even more affected by their personal and family conditions.This article shows that current online telematic education, without discussing its benefits and support for learning processes, increases the educational inequalities of students.