I have been working closely with a large group of municipal and state education secretaries throughout this period of school closures. I serve as a mentor, and we discuss both the best approaches to emergency learning at home and the long and challenging process of preparing for the resumption of in-person classes.

A recurring theme that comes up in these conversations is not, as one might imagine, technology, but rather the leadership required in times of crisis. This does not mean that they are not interested in technological solutions to their problems, but rather that many of them are facing, for the first time, the challenge of mobilizing their teams for tasks that were previously unfamiliar and for which no one had the necessary preparation.

Some voices, amplified by the approaching election season, are questioning many municipal leaders about the lack of contingency plans to deal with the catastrophe that has occurred. Of course, no school system in the world could have foreseen such an adverse situation, with schools fully or partially closed in some 190 countries, according to a McKinsey study.

Even so, countless teachers began—many acting on their own—to assign homework, in the hope that their students would not lose their connection to school and would continue to learn in some way. Many school administrators followed their teachers’ lead, ensuring a certain degree of coordination in the measures taken and thereby preventing a widening of educational inequality among public schools and between public and private schools, which—with the support of technology—have been systematically maintaining remote learning.

It is certainly easier for private schools to carry out this work, given that the logistics involved in a single school are much simpler than those of public school systems. In addition, many schools that serve students from affluent families know that their students have access to high-quality equipment and internet connectivity.

But the secretaries managed to overcome initial obstacles, and although many of them lacked sufficient management training for the task, they succeeded in coordinating the educational response to COVID. It is important to remember that, in most countries, it was the central government that set up a national system for emergency remote learning to be implemented at the state and municipal levels. That simply did not happen here.

For all state secretaries, the idea of a digital learning platform seemed to make a lot of sense, even though some students were unable to access it. The same was true for a much smaller number of municipalities, which, in this case, focused on the final years of elementary school. Some of these municipalities relied on the support of the “Escola Mais” program, which incorporated the use of platforms into the regular curriculum.

The experiment seemed to make sense, although there was initial resistance from teachers, with some saying they were unprepared for the practice and others rejecting the involvement of private actors in the municipalities.

In the end, many teachers managed to reinvent themselves and demonstrated a deep commitment to their students’ learning. Emergency training sessions were held in various states and municipalities, and, to some extent, digital inclusion and the preparation of teachers for remote instruction took place.

Educational responses to COVID were somewhat disjointed, given the lack of national coordination by the Ministry of Education (MEC), but the strong efforts of CONSED and UNDIME, as well as the leadership shown by many of the state education secretaries, managed to prevent a disproportionate increase in educational inequality.

They had to serve as inspirational leaders in their states and municipalities, rallying their teachers and recognizing the value of their work, and they organized complex logistics to ensure that physical and digital materials reached students’ homes.

After all, throughout human history, crises have brought leaders to the forefront and diminished lesser leaders. History books will one day recount the dedication of a determined group of educational leaders and teachers to ensure that public school students continue to learn, even under very challenging conditions.

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