Superhero Cosplay: A teacher in Bolivia moves others to action in the pandemic and beyond

Many teachers around the world have been faced with a challenge they never thought possible: How to continue teaching in the midst of a pandemic. In these complex circumstances, teachers implemented creative strategies to enable their students on their academic journeys.   

In the following lines, the UN Country Team in Bolivia shares the story of Jorge Villaroel, a teacher who found alternative ways to mobilize his students and their families and inspire others to stay engaged and be creative amid the pandemic. We honor the work of Jorge Villaroel and other teachers around the world on 5 October, on the occasion of World Teacher's Day 2022.  

In a traditional neighbourhood in La Paz, Bolivia, an ordinary man becomes an extraordinary superhero every morning. Right before joining a video call, Jorge Villarroel puts a mask and a cloak on. He adjusts the lighting in his home-based improvised recording studio, and he is all set to welcome his students to an exciting online learning journey.  

When the screen is activated, most of his students smile as they recognize the “Super Teacher”, a nickname he has earned over the past year thanks to his unique way of keeping the students engaged during the online lessons. 

How the 'Super Teacher' came to be 

When the traffic restriction began at the start of the pandemic in Bolivia, Jorge knew almost nothing about technology. For him, it was a challenge to continue classes using his mobile phone to guarantee his students’ right to education. 

“I began to notice how the girls and boys became depressed, sad, closed in - and not many followed the class...”, he explains.

Jorge’s perception of the pandemic having impacted the mental health of many of his students was accurate. In fact, in Bolivia, as UNICEF’s latest U-Report survey shows, eight out of 10 adolescents who experience anxiety, depression, and distress due to the new social, family, and personal context resulting from the pandemic don’t seek psychological support. 

With this harsh reality in mind, Jorge decided to reuse a handful of different garments to create a costume. The following day, he welcomed his students cosplayed as the superhero known as 'Spiderman'. Immediately, the attitude of his students changed and motivation levels began to rebound.

“He started dressing up as a superhero during the hardest time of the pandemic, and that helped the children take their minds off the difficult moment we were all going through,” explains Erika Ibañez, mother of Valentina Siles, one of Jorge’s students. 

One day Valentina ran to tell her mom Erika that her teacher was a superhero. On hearing the news, Erika decided to peek into her daughter’s virtual classroom and she discovered that Jorge was cosplayed.  

"The change was remarkable, especially in my youngest daughter, who was already counting the days until Jorge's lesson. All week long, she was wondering, 'what is he going to dress up as today?' That encouraged them in the classes. It motivated the girls and boys even more", adds Erika.

After over a year of virtual lessons, Valentina says online learning isn’t difficult for her. She feels used to everything except the Internet outages that make connecting with her teacher and classmates difficult. 

Overcoming barriers and frontiers

Following the World Health Organization’s and Pan American Health’s recommendations on mental health, Jorge decided to go one step further. He also started to offer dance sessions before each virtual lesson.  

“Even the dads, moms and grandparents... who tag along with their sons and daughters are now participating in the dance session,” he explains with a big smile on his face. He knows that the positive impacts have transcended even age barriers. 

For Jorge, reinventing himself has not been easy. But his creativity has inspired many teachers who are now searching for strategies to capture their students’ attention and keep them motivated.  

“Professors from other countries, such as the United States, Argentina, Colombia... wrote to me to learn more and replicate my initiative,” says Jorge.  

Bouncing back from adversity

Besides his teaching endeavors, Jorge has also joined a group of volunteers to help low-income families and people affected by the collapse of hospitals.  

After assisting a family affected by COVID-19, Jorge became sick. Within days, he hung up his superhero cape and began looking for a medical facility for emergency treatment.  

After two months in a coma and a tracheotomy, Jorge returned to teaching. In the beginning, he needed an oxygen tank to be able to teach and talk to his students.  

Jorge acknowledges that coping with the pandemic and overcoming the COVID-19 disease would have been impossible without his students. Staying in touch with his students, knowing that they were waiting for him and getting the affectionate messages of so many motivated him to overcome the difficulties, be resilient and move forward with his undertakings.

Regarding COVID-19, Jorge says it is important to talk about it and even share our fears:

“My students still ask me: ‘Why couldn't you breathe? What is the intensive care unit (ICU)?", he explains.  

To help tackle fake news and unverified information about COVID19, Jorge uses his social media to invite people to learn more about his personal story, get vaccinated, wear a mask, wash their hands and take care of themselves and those around them.   
 
“We have to keep going, stay strong,” says Jorge, as he starts sewing a new superhero costume for his next lesson. He will continue to bounce back from adversity and advance this purpose and his calling as a teacher.

UN Bolivia is committed to supporting the country in advancing inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all as a priority under the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). 

Previously, in March 2021, in order to ensure the right to education of children and adolescents and to respond to the concerns generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia, the Bolivian Ministry of Education - with the support of the UN system through WFP, UNESCO and UNICEF - presented the Key Considerations for the Safe Return to School. This document was conceived as a guide and a compendium of action pathways for the safe return to school, with tools for mitigating risks in schools and planning for the continuity of the school term. 

Within the framework of the Transforming Education Summit, which took place last September in NY, the Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO) in Bolivia provided technical assistance and support in the set up of a series of nine national and thematic dialogues, with engagement of over 2,500 people, through a hybrid approach consisting of virtual and face-to-face consultations, using tools such as U-Report.   

These discussions with young people, educators, parents, experts and other stakeholders from different sectors provided key inputs to elaborate the national position of the Plurinational State of Bolivia for the Summit. The RCO led an inter-agency team including UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, ILO, FAO, WFP and UNV that worked with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his capacity as Convening National Authority, and representatives of the Ministry of Education. 

Originally published in Spanish by UN Bolivia. Editorial support by the Development Coordination Office.

For more information on the work of the UN in Bolivia, please visit: Bolivia.UN.org.