The purpose of this paper is to present an exploration on the response of parents of two rural multigrade schools facing the homeschooling activities in the context of pandemics. To frame a comparative perspective some conceptual work was done about new rurality and family structure before interviewing parents of both schools about distribution of…

Colombia's rural "escuelas nuevas" feature multigrade classrooms, flexible promotion, rural-oriented curriculum, parent and community involvement, mastery learning, peer instruction, and library resources. A study of over 3,000 students found that, compared to traditional schools, Escuela Nueva schools had lower dropout probabilities,…

To compensate for disadvantages of traditional rural schools, Colombia's Escuela Nueva (New School) movement offers solutions such as self-instruction guides geared to aspects of daily life and flexible school schedules. Teacher training that encourages student and community involvement is a key element. Escuela Nueva successes have led to its…

The hypothesis examined in this study is that education as an active force will perform two functions: (1) develop technical innovations and transform the productive structure, and (2) produce men who can undertake social and political innovations in Colombia. The plight of education in rural Colombia is revealed when contrasted with the urban…