One year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic started changing our daily habits. The pandemic and the contingency plans implemented by the national governments to limit its spread have exposed the fallacies of, not only the health systems, but the education systems too. Certainly, COVID-19 forced teachers, parents and, most importantly, students to come to terms with new ways of learning; but, how can we be so sure that the learning crisis we are witnessing now only started in March 2020?
Education: a right
The importance of education is two-fold. On the one hand, education is essential for the individual's self-development. For this reason, the right to education is recognised as a fundamental human right. It is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and access to education is also enlisted among the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the Agenda 2030. Furthermore, 2020 marked the 60th anniversary for the Convention against Discrimination in Education, the first legally binding international instrument, ratified by 106 countries, fully developed around the right to education. On the other hand, good education systems lead to functioning economies, where workers have the right hard and soft skills to be productive.
Education: a privilege
Despite the efforts at policy and legislative level, educational inequalities are still widespread. In 2018, according to the Global Education Monitoring Report,17% of school-age pupils (primary and secondary education) worldwide were not enrolled in school. Further still, there is a great disparity between the European figures (3%) and those of Sub-Saharan African countries (31%), pointing to wider socio-economic inequalities. In addition to the rate of participation, the rate of attendance plays a great role in the success of a child’s or adolescent’s education, other influencing factors are: the completion of the educational cycle, the quality of teaching and of the material available.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1.5 billion children have been impacted by the closure of schools. By now, schoolchildren in low and lower-middle-income countries have lost nearly four months of schooling. Experts have studied how, in regular circumstances, prolonged time off-classes may have led to a loss in learning outcomes; this is more than likely to be the case also after this unprecedented year.
Other factors contribute to learning loss. Most schools swiftly transferred their activities online at the outbreak of the pandemic. However, 2 out of 3 school-aged children (3-17 y.o.) worldwide do not have access to the internet. The unavailability of a dedicated space at home and lack of access to personal computers has only intensified the digital divide. Moreover, even where connectivity could be ensured, teachers faced an unexpected challenge:a lack of training on how to incorporate technologies into the teaching approach (an already standing issue prior to COVID-19). Challenges on both sides of the school desk - pupils and teachers - are countless.
In addition, students were also affected by the likely change in their parents’ employment situation, that might have forced some of them constantly at home, and by the abrupt interruption of social contacts with their peers. This might have led to a lack of opportunities to communicate, play, socialise with their peers. The school is not in fact only a place to gain formal education, but to develop social soft skills.
The pandemic has only exacerbated already existing inequalities and long-standing issues. However, what is clear is that the attainment of an education has a positive impact on the quality of life and income people earn. What are, then, the main priorities for governments and education leaders to combat the challenge posed by COVID-19 and transform it into an opportunity to revise the education system?
Conclusions and recommendations
First of all, the digital divide must be bridged swiftly. In the short-term, innovative solutions, such as television or radio broadcasting might serve this purpose; however, in the long-term, effective access to resources is fundamental. In this framework, UNESCO has launched the Global Education Initiative bringing together the private and the public sector for a mutual enriching exchange of practices.
Secondly, teachers must be trained and sustained in their daily work, keeping in mind they are already being asked to work with additional stressors and an increased workload. The pandemic has only aggravated pre-existing issues within the teachers category: from shortage of personnel to low pay. Workshops, toolkits or guidelines should be developed to support teachers in this particular time. Reverse mentoring might also be investigated as an opportunity for older generation teachers to benefit from the fresh approaches of their younger colleagues and,in particular, their experience with digital pedagogical methods. Moreover, in the long-term, digital and inclusivity courses should be made available among teachers.
Thirdly, it is important that the most vulnerable to educational poverty and learning deprivation are not forgotten. In this framework, governments, development partners, and teacher bodies must envisage a system able to react to individualised needs and mitigate the effects of the past months. In order to speed up the safe return to schools, teachers and students, in tandem with the high-risk categories, should be prioritised.
In conclusion, the revision of an already-stalling system is fundamental and must be a priority in the governments’ agenda. Not only is it crucial to mitigate the losses engendered by the pandemic, but there is a real need for a revision of the entire system and this crisis has only served as an opportunity to bring it to fore.
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