Alejandro's routines have changed. After several days out of school, having played with every toy and watching all the cartoons on TV and the pen drive, he was a little anxious. As if that wasn't enough, his mother Nelba's inquisitive gaze, every time she saw him leaning out of the doorway, reminded him that he wasn't on vacation and shouldn't be out in the street.

Las Tunas, Cuba - But these last days have been different. His teacher Rosario, the one in his classroom, can't give him classes now, he tells me because all the children have to stay at home so as not to get sick and a new teacher checks on him every day on the television. From the expression on his face, I can tell that it is a bit strange and even confusing for him to study all the time at home.

It's not very easy," says Gisela Reyes, mother of two children, Beatriz and Keiler, 5 and 11 years old respectively. I work in a store and I'm out all day. I leave everything ready to them, but it's my mother who watches over their food, the older one to attends the classes and they wash their hands often. The first few days, every time she turned around Keiler escaped to play with the boy in front, we had to get strong.

The comments of these interviewees are very frequent among the people these days, when the new coronavirus requires the greatest possible social isolation and based on this the Ministry of Education decreed the temporary closure of all its facilities, except for the kindergartens. In record time, that body, with the invaluable support of Cuban television, organized a system of TV broadcasts for all subjects and levels, specially designed so that in the coming weeks, children and young people can continue to prepare from their homes.

In Las Tunas, more than 80 thousand students of the General Education have to follow these broadcasts and of them, about 1,600 are in the twelfth grade, a defining year due to the magnitude and rigor of the entrance exams they have to face in their transit to the University.

This is a great challenge, because, in spite of the dissatisfactions that sometimes arise regarding the preparation of some teachers, the great truth is that the Educational System guarantees eight hours a day of training, which is not always achieved outside of it, because in the opinion of some, that is what the school is for.

That is why the authorities of the sector here made a call to the families about the accompaniment they should do, more at this crucial moment. The virus has arrived in an uncomfortable stage, just at the doors of transcendental processes such as the entrance exams to Higher Education and the Vocational School and the closing of the school year, so it is the responsibility of parents and students, that the latter should dedicate as much time as possible to individual study.

This is not easy, especially for tutors who, because of the functions they carry out, are currently in their jobs and must relegate this requirement to grandparents, older siblings, uncles and even neighbors. In these cases, it is necessary to have a frank dialogue with our children and adolescents and to appeal to their conscience, as well as to the seriousness that should prevail in their behavior in the face of such a complex scenario.

Thanks are already circulating in the networks and congratulations are being given to the strategy adopted to preserve the lives of the youngest, without neglecting their intellectual growth. Also the alerts of those who do not have access to the Educational channel because they do not have decoder boxes in their homes and other concerns related to the little time on the screen of some exercises, insufficient to copy them even to the fastest ones.

It is true that all of the above must be taken into account if we want to succeed in the situation we are facing. However, if one thing is clear to us, it is that studying continues to be a great challenge. If there is no conscious learning, a space to stick to books and consolidate knowledge, all the efforts made today will remain empty. Although the TV broadcasts are a good idea, they are not the solution to everything we lack, the result of each one of us will depend on our dedication and sacrifice.