The year 2020 was emblematic due to the emergence and spread of the covid-19 pandemic globally. The health crisis installed during this period brought profound changes to our societies, with repercussions also in the education sector. This article problematizes the experience of the Parano & aacute;-Itap & otilde;a Adult Literacy Project carried out through a partnership between the Parano & aacute; Cultural and Development Center (CEDEP) and the Education College of the University of Brasilia in the Federal District- Brazil, in order to identify the challenges faced by students to carry on the fight for the right to education and life, in a context of remote teaching and social isolation. With that in mind, the text dialogues with the contributions of Paulo Freire, the critical theory formulated by Walter Benjamin, authors in the field adult and young education and with popular education. The qualitative study includes analysis of interviews and a questionnaire carried out with adult literacy students from popular education. The article highlights the challenges faced by these subjects and indicates popular education as a locus of resistance, demonstrating the importance of educational actions that allow for welcoming, sensitive and attentive listening to lived realities, enabling the overcoming of limiting situations and the creation of untested feasibility in uncertain times.