COVID 19

 

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the lives of children, teenagers, and young adults. The pandemic's upheaval of communities and economies is exacerbating the world's already-existing education crisis and affecting education in unprecedented ways.

The world was in the midst of a learning crisis even before COVID-19. 258 million primary and secondary school-aged children were out of school, and the Learning Poverty rate in low- and middle-income nations was 53%, implying that more over half of all 10-year-olds could not read and understand a simple paragraph. The number was closer to 90% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the learning issue, with long-term consequences for this generation of students. 94 percent of students – or 1.6 billion youngsters – were out of school at the peak of school closures in April 2020. Learning losses and rising inequality have already been observed in some high-income countries.

While COVID-19 presents significant obstacles, it also presents a chance to alter and rethink education, as well as to begin fulfilling a vision for the Future of Learning in which all students learn with joy, rigour, and purpose in school and beyond. Indeed, this is a unique opportunity to redefine education, with a vision for how schools will be shaped in the future - a future that is already here.

The pandemic presents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to accelerate and improve long-overdue investments in technology, teachers, parents, and communities.

The coronavirus outbreak was a shock to the system, but it is unlikely to be the last. Governments must keep the long-term goal in mind: ensuring that all children and young people in low- and middle-income nations receive an education. To ensure a healthy, affluent, and safe future, it is critical to ensure that educational systems are appropriately funded, that teaching materials are plentiful, that technology is used wisely, and that teachers are protected.