Purpose: A balance among our different understandings of the purposes of education (knowledge transmission, preparation for life) and wellbeing (addressing inequalities, protecting and caring for students) has been viewed as a valuable goal and framework for theory and practice, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020 cross-continental extraordinary COVID-19 related crisis, decisions became less balanced, as governments centered on economic and health system decisions, and social protection was emphasized largely as a condition to prevent further transmission and salvage productivity when possible (Torres, I. & López-Cevallos, D.F., 2021). The aim of this study is to explore the possible implications of Ecuador’s school policy in the educational achievements (including wellbeing) of children. Methods: Stretching the boundaries of portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005; findings (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Hoffman Davis, 1997), this study embarks in a narrative collage of school policy during Ecuador’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary data on cause of deaths, the accounts of students, parents and teachers reported by major national newspapers, and the personal experience of the author as a working mother with two children who shifted to homeschooling. Findings: In Ecuador, schools were closed as a preventive measure on March 13, 2020, but remained indefinitely shut beyond the end of the year. Thousands of students eventually left the school system completely, while families were left to grapple on their own. Hopes to reopen were continuously crushed by the disarray in which the response was managed. Suspension of in-person teaching effectively segmented children and adolescents into the privileged, with internet access and technology to continue meeting with their teachers, and the underprivileged, without minimal resources and conditions to carry on. The understanding that children and adolescents would meet at no greater risk, for example, in small multigrade schools, was initially supported by the government. But emphasis on controlling transmission by controlling the population left children and adolescents grappling individually at home, frequently in conditions of extreme poverty and, many times, violence. While child and adolescent suicide incidence in Ecuador has been a cause of concern, it seems that suicides in this age group decreased in 2020. Because school bullying is widespread in the country, it is possible that some pressure has been lifted from families and children and adolescents once schools were shut down. While content learning must have decreased, the author reflects on the (positive) effects of school closures on mental health and related wellbeing of students.

References Torres, I. & López-Cevallos, D.F. (2021). In the name of COVID-19: legitimizing the exclusion of community participation in Ecuador’s health policy: Special call: Health Promotion Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic, Health Promotion International, daaa139. Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2005) Reflections on portraiture: A dialogue between art and science. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(3), 3-15. Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Hoffman Davis, J. H. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.