The COVID-19 pandemic has meant a prolonged economic and social crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, with profound consequences on the population’s well-being and a silent and devastating impact on education. The abrupt transition to distance learning, with one of the most extended school closures in the world, has had an unequal impact and highlighted pre-existing gaps in the region. The crisis has resulted in paradigm shifts, innovations and lessons learned concerning adapting to remote education, which impede education systems from returning to how things were and force them to restructure to be more resilient and inclusive.