THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON GLOBAL EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Unexpectedly, we are facing the reality of COVID-19 as a global pandemic with great impacts on global structures and systems, and unfortunately, the global education system is not left out. Around the world, to contain the spread of COVID-19, most governments have temporarily closed down schools at all levels.
According to UNESCO, students are out of school in 191 countries which is impacting more than 1.19 billion learners. We are living amidst what is potentially one of the greatest threats in our lifetime to global education, a gigantic educational crisis (World Bank Blog).
What we should worry about with the impact of the coronavirus on global education and students generally is its dimensional effect on learning. Before the coronavirus outbreak in 2019, the World Bank’s “Learning Poverty” indicator — the % of children who cannot read and understand at age 10 — stood at 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries. While combating the global learning crisis where about 250 million children around the world are in school but not learning the basics, school closure due to COVID-19 has the potential to worsen these outcomes if there is no fast response.
Beyond this, the aftermath of school closures will inevitably increase hunger in some regions where children’s first meals come from free feeding provided by the government in schools. In Africa, particularly in countries where gender equality in education is still a struggle, closure of schools might drastically decrease the rate of female education when compared to their male counterparts. After the Ebola outbreak in 2014 where thousands of girls were left vulnerable and forced to fend for themselves after schools were closed for months on end, more than 18,000 girls fell pregnant in Sierra Leone. When the schools reopened many months later, Sierra Leone’s government claimed that letting pregnant girls continue their studies was bad for their health and would encourage other students to get pregnant which led to a ban on pregnant girls attending school.
Although the ban has been finally overturned after 5 years, how can the learning gap be overturned? Will school closures due to the coronavirus outbreak result in a similar case? What are the barriers to promoting distance and digital education, particularly in low-income or rural communities? How do we ensure that learning never stops in times of emergencies and crises like COVID-19? These are questions surfacing again and again as world leaders look for solutions to ensure that learning never stops.
However, as the situation presents itself, this moment holds opportunity for strategic change in policy, process, and restructuring that can serve as the leveller to creating a global education system resilient enough to stand in times of emergencies and crisis.
While some countries are still focused on putting structures and systems in place towards reducing the impact of COVID19 on education and ensuring that learning never stops, many countries are creatively harnessing the potential of digital education. For example, with the help of many partners, Los Angeles Unified School District opened up 60 grab-and-go meal centres, 40 child care centres, and launched a distance learning program that involves both interactive computer-based learning and a partnership with public television that includes programming in English and Spanish for every age group with lesson plans and assignments. In Nigeria, through partnership with different Television and Radio broadcasting agencies, the government has launched its own response by streaming lessons for students at different but consistent intervals. Many online learning platforms have made available free courses to support students to continue to learn while at home.
Although these responses are providing tenable solutions, this period has revealed the many inequalities and existing gaps in terms of access to technology and digital tools, technical capacity of teachers and school leaders, and the supportive environment needed to support distance and digital education.
Perhaps some of the innovations we’re developing today may lead us to new and powerful solutions in the future that can help overcome the persistent challenges of equity and access in education that we all strive to end (forbes.com).
While trying to contain the effect of coronavirus on education and preventing future occurrence of school closures, our educational system needs to be designed in a way that is resilient to crisis, such that in times of crisis, there are alternative means of low-cost approach that will ensure learning never stops in both rural and urban communities. Teachers need to be equipped to face the realities of digital technology that can support students learning in time of crisis. For proper funding of education particularly in times of crisis, there is a need for an organized structure and system such that private organizations, CSOs and non-profits can support the government in providing educational access, especially for children in marginalized communities.
Global Changemakers has an unshakeable mission of supporting youth to create positive change in their communities. A global pioneer in supporting youth-led development, they have trained youth from over 180 countries and provided grants to over 360 youth-led projects, which have had a combined impact on over 6,2 million people. www.global-changemakers.net
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article belong to the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or Global Changemakers.
