The Minister of Education, Mauricio Pineda, reported that 100% of the students in the public education sector begin face-to-face classes this Monday, February 6. According to the official, 1.2 million students are enrolled this school year.

In addition to the face-to-face modality, all continuous admission students have computers and tablets with internet access that were given to them by the government of President Nayib Bukele. Pineda announced that this year they will deliver tablets to kindergarten and first grade children and will be distributing computers to students who are moving into fourth grade this year.

«100% of the students return to classrooms in person, they arrive with their technological equipment, and many of them are already in educational centers that are a dream, totally different from what they were used to. They are educational centers with new bathrooms, roofs, windows, floors, and colors. It has nothing to envy about private centers. This day is a holiday,” the head of education told Diario El Salvador.

Some of the innovations for this year will be the implementation of a new connectivity system in schools that will assign bandwidth per student so the network will not be saturated and students and teachers will have a better connection.

Similarly, he highlighted that for the first time in the country’s history, first graders will receive six textbooks from a special early childhood collection. Similarly, they plan to deliver 1,000 completely remodeled schools this year, with new roofs, floors, electrical connections, walls, windows, desks, and recreational areas.

He also highlighted that they foresee an increase in school enrollment this year thanks to the Territorial Control Plan and the exception regime, since in previous years, gangs affected the transfer of students to schools. “Now they can get to the classroom calmly without being threatened. They are very safe, they no longer have to pay rent. Thanks to the government of President Bukele, we can say that schools are safe places for students,” Pineda said.

He also announced that the work tables with the unions installed since 2022 will be resumed this week, and he invited them to a general assembly next Monday. 

The students of the Caserío Brisas Mandinga School Center, in Sonsonate, begin the school year in the era of technological innovation using the computers and tablets that the Ministry of Education (Mined) gave them.

The teacher Carlos Perdomo, who before the pandemic only used books and notebooks to teach classes, has had to adapt to the new modality and learn to use the tools he also received.

In a creative way and with the purpose of providing a moment of fun and empathy for the children, Perdomo dresses up as the fictional character Fred Flintstone, which is well accepted by the students.