Kids Today: Remote Education in the time of COVID-19

Abstract: With the recent COVID-19 breakup, it became necessary to implement remote classes in schools and universities to safeguard health and life. However, many students (teachers and parents, also) face great difficulties accessing and staying in class due to technology limitations, affecting their education. Using several nationally representative datasets in Colombia, this article documents how the academic performance of students in their final high school year is affected due to technologies, aggregated by municipalities. We conclude that internet access strongly affects these results, and little improvement on the internet/computer access will reflect better academic performance. Under these conditions, belonging to an ethnic group or high rurality (non-geographic centralized municipalities) has a negative impact. Policy implications are discussed.