With iffy WiFi, Venezuelan schoolkids struggle to join classes

Jonathan Figueroa, 14, sits at the room he shares with his mother at the Bello Campo neighbourhood in Chacao, Caracas, on Oct 6. — AFP

Thumbing his mobile phone, Jonathan Figueroa sits on his doorstep in a desperate daily quest for a WiFi signal to download his homework.

Battered by the pandemic and economic collapse, Venezuela's lost generation of schoolchildren have little chance of linking up regularly with online classes given the country's fickle Internet coverage.