Rio de Janeiro, Oct 2 (AFP/APP):The 13-year-old boy selling mangos at the market in Rio de Janeiro was the same age as Vanessa Cavalieri’s daughter, studying in the same grade at school. But while her daughter was home taking classes online, the boy’s schooling was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, showing how Covid-19 has exposed and exacerbated the deep inequalities in Brazil’s education system. “He hasn’t had classes since March 16. He’s helping his father sell fruit at three different markets,” Cavalieri, a juvenile court judge, wrote in a Facebook post that went viral. “Meanwhile, Valentina is studying Portuguese, English, science and math online,” she said. “The abyss of inequality between public and private school students, which is already horrible, is only going to get worse.” The wreckage Covid-19 has left on its way to killing nearly 150,000 people in Brazil — the second-highest death toll worldwide, after the United States — has not been spread equally. It has hit the poor and people of color hardest in this sprawling South American country of 212 million people. Education is one of the areas Brazil’s divisions have been laid most bare. As Brazilian parents, teachers and policy makers wrestle with the … Continue reading Pandemic lays bare inequalities in Brazil’s schools