Education Crisis in the Times of COVID-19

Education Crisis in the Times of COVID-19
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With the uncountable disruptions that we are facing today because of the pandemic, Education sector has also taken a U- turn and changed the way of education of 75 million children and youth globally.

Education has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with 1.53 billion learners out of school and 184 country-wide school closures, impacting 87.6% of the world’s total enrolled learners. Drop-out rates across the globe are likely to rise as a result of this massive disruption to education access.

While other critical needs such as health, water and sanitation are being responded to, educational needs cannot be forgotten and these have an equally detrimental impact if left unaddressed. There is a real risk of regression for children whose basic, foundational learning (reading, math, languages, etc.) was not strong to begin with. And millions of children who have already been deprived of their right to education, particularly girls, are being more exposed to health and well-being risks (both psychosocial and physical) during COVID-19.

Girls: Young and adolescent girls are twice as likely to be out of school in crisis situations and face greater barriers to education and vulnerabilities such as domestic/gender-based violence when not in school.

Refugees, displaced and migrant children: These populations often fall between the cracks as national policies might not necessarily include these vulnerable groups and they must be included and catered for in any global responses to this crisis if this has not already occurred.

Children and youth with disabilities: Along with other marginalized populations, including children from minority groups, are neglected in the best of times and have lower educational outcomes than their peers.

Young people affected by trauma or mental health issues: Schools and learning centres are places for communities to address health related issues, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), which the most vulnerable students rely on for their wellbeing and development in order to learn.

Without access to education, as shocks are experienced including loss of life, health impacts and loss of livelihoods- children are more vulnerable and unprotected.  As household finances are being strained and needs increase, out-of-school children are more likely to be exposed to risks like family violence, child labour, forced marriage, trafficking and exploitation, including by responders.

For the most vulnerable children, education is lifesaving. Not only does it provide safety and protection, importantly, it also instils hope for a brighter future.

In India, as we have reported earlier; Children like Mahima and Ananya are facing at Digital Divide across classes of society during this age of Online Teaching.

They are in the same class at a small private school in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Teachers describe them both as "brilliant" students, but ever since classes moved online, they have found themselves on opposite sides of India's technological benefits.

Ananya, who lives in an urban area, has wi-fi at home, and says she is able to log in to her classes and follow them easily.

"The experience is awesome and classes are going really well. This is our school now," she told. But for Mahima, who lives in a village, it has been a frustrating experience.

For one, she has no home wi-fi. Instead she relies on her mobile phone's 4G signal, a common source of internet across rural and small-town India.

But the phone signal is strongest on the terrace of her house, so Mahima often has no choice but to study there in the searing heat. Even then, she says, she may or may not be able to join the classes online.

"At times I miss lessons completely. I can't watch online videos sent by the teacher. Downloading is a big problem. We only get electricity a few hours a day, so keeping the phone charged is also an issue," she says.

"I have barely attended 10-12 classes in the last one and half months. At times I feel like crying because of the backlog. I am so behind the syllabus."

The government has been touting online classes as a viable alternative, but unequal and patchy access to the internet has meant the experience is vastly different depending on location and household income.

With more than 630 million subscribers, India is home to the world's second-largest internet user base. But connectivity is still an issue, especially since mobile data rather than fixed line internet- is the main source.

The signal is often uneven, making it hard to stream videos smoothly, and electricity supply is erratic, which means devices often run out of charge.

All of this was recently flagged by state representatives to the federal ministry of human resource development, which oversees education in India.

The senior officials warned that almost 30% of the central state of Jharkhand had poor connectivity, while similar complaints had been made in Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east.

There are other issues too. The internet device most Indians use is a mobile phone - so many students follow classes on cheap phones rather than laptops. Many poor households have only one phone, and access to it is unreliable.

And then there are those who can't afford any device at all.

In the southern state of Kerala, for instance, a teenager killed herself, allegedly because her family could not afford a mobile phone or a television (lessons are being aired on a special educational channel).

Her father told local journalists that he was a daily-wage earner and could not afford either.

"She was very worried that she would not be able to attend the classes. I had told her that some solution will be found by the teachers, but she was very upset," he said.

Smriti Parsheera, a lawyer and technology policy researcher told that as everyone was unexpectedly thrust into an online-only environment, the type and number of devices that a family became instrumental in deciding a student's ability to engage with the system.

A special report that shows the educational crisis and is extremely crucial to bring forth, has been produced by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Koumba Boly Barry.

Boly Barry was presenting her report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the right to education, to the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to the latest figures from UNESCO, there are still more than one billion learners affected by school and university closures.

While the first phase has now passed and many schools and educational institutions have reopened, Boly Barry said it was essential to conduct a thorough analysis of how this period severely impacted the right to education. Using a human rights lens was essential, she added, particularly so the rights of the most vulnerable are protected.

For Boly Barry, the long-term impact of the pandemic on education worldwide will depend on the measures countries adopt now. "The main question is whether we will be able to generate positive change, not reverse the progress made in recent decades," she stated.

She also added that it was critical not to lose sight of the broader context, and reminded that 258 million children and young people were already out of school before the pandemic. "Public education systems remain underfunded and under pressure, inequalities in education are intolerable, and access to education remains a dream for many," she said.

The report recommends that States must carry out a multidimensional response to the crisis. The interrelation and interdependence of human rights is clear, the report states, including for example the right to adequate nutritious food (when food is distributed by schools) and the right to adequate housing (essential for home schooling).

"Action must be based on a continuum between education, health, housing, food, employment and essential social services," said Boly Barry. "States must take care not to redirect massive funding towards health or economic recovery at the expense of education."

The report also warned against the excessive use of digital technologies to enable home schooling. This risks exacerbating inequalities, said Boly Barry, citing figures from UNESCO which show that 826 million students do not have access to a home computer, and 706 million do not have internet at home.

"The simplest technologies, such as printed documents, can have a positive impact on the continuity of learning during school closures, and should be an essential part of the response," stated Boly Barry.

The "disastrous consequences of the massive use of screens by children" as well as the dangers of online abuse must be taken into account, she added.

The rights of teachers and other education staff was another point highlighted in the report. Boly Barry expressed concern about the sanitary conditions many staff had to endure, without sufficient protection. The report also mentions the decline of remuneration for many staff as a result of the pandemic, stating that teachers in the private sector have been particularly affected.

Boly Barry urged that measures are put in place to protect and guarantee the right to health, including mental health well-being, of every staff and student.

While commending the efforts of States "who have done their best to resolve the education crisis in a very short time," as well as the mammoth work of teachers during this period, she said past mistakes could never have prepared the world for this crisis.

"The past failure to build strong and resilient education systems has opened the door to a dramatic impact on the most vulnerable and marginalised, which no hasty temporary measure could have prevented," she said.

For Boly Barry, "building back better" requires acting within a human rights framework in order not to compromise the right to education, and to avoid an escalation in the suffering of the most marginalised.

Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies, was launched in 2016 at the World Humanitarian summit to coordinate responses and raise financing for education in emergencies, and distributes funds where they are needed most and as quickly as possible, to continue children’s education in times of crisis.

They are closely connected to their partners on the ground in vulnerable communities and are working with them to urgently assess additional needs and determine what support and funding are most impactful. This is how they work to ensure no child is left behind or exploited by this pandemic. After extensive consultations with these partners and across the UN system, they are responding to the COVID-19 crisis with every tool at their disposal.

In their education in emergency responses, they consider holistic spectrum of needs that children and youth, their parents and caregivers, educators and communities face during crisis. This includes MHPSS, child protection, school feeding, gender equality, access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene education, school infrastructure, teacher training and quality learning materials.

According to their website,

“We also require our partner organizations to apply child safeguarding measures, manage risks to children, including risks associated with personnel and volunteers who are in contact with vulnerable children, and to report child safeguarding concerns to ECW.”

This is how ECW ensures that these principles and the complex and holistic needs of affected children and youth are met within COVID-19 responses.

SUPPORT AND EXPERTISE ECW IS PROVIDING DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

Our immediate challenge is to educate children where they are, within the infrastructure and setting they are in. This requires innovation and creativity to enhance remote learning tools, services and education. ECW has a range of expertise and background in innovative education solutions in crisis situations, including addressing mental health and wellbeing needs.  Our support includes:

Complying and coordinating with the UN’s overall guidance and response. At the country level, we coordinate responses with the UN Humanitarian/Resident Coordinator and Designated Official for Security, as well as UN agencies to determine parameters and priorities, risk-assessments and directives, while ensuring the critical importance of education in the response is recognized and prioritized. We continue to coordinate responses through the Global Education Cluster and UNHCR (for refugee situations).

At the global level, ECW is part of UNESCO’s Global COVID-19 Education Coalition and, as a UN-hosted fund, ECW participates in all other multilateral coordination efforts undertaken by the broader UN system and UN Appeals. ECW uses both our First Emergency Response (FER) or the Acceleration Facility window to support these initiatives as relevant and necessary.

ECW’s priority is to provide and deploy urgent funding and use our in-built agility and emergency-design to respond quickly to education needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. ECW funds and ensures quality learning for the most vulnerable, in a safe, inclusive environment and through innovative and cost-effective responses in affected countries.

For existing countries that we support, this means: Organizations can apply under the First Emergency Response (FER) and Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) windows for funding, or to quickly and easily re-programme and re-orient their efforts in line with local needs and coordinated measures.  We provide immediate support and fast-track any requests.

For new countries and regions that need our support that means: If education has been affected as a result of the COVID-19 crisis in a country we haven’t worked with, and that meets ECW’s criteria, they can apply to our COVID FER window or Acceleration Facility. Proposals may enable local and international civil society organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, government bodies and others to respond to the needs they are seeing on the ground.

Based on our connection to front-line responders and humanitarian expertise, we provide support, technical guidance and expertise to our partners in affected communities to ensure the most vulnerable are not left behind and that children’s immediate needs – education, health well-being and more – are met.

For instance, access to clean water and sanitation, as well as hygiene education (WASH) is critical for every school-aged child right now. ECW can provide technical expertise, funding and infrastructure support to ensure children continue to manage their hygiene and health, as part of their education.

ECW wants to ensure that children and adolescents don’t fall behind, but gain tools needed to ‘weather this storm’ and develop skills to better navigate life’s challenges afterwards. We collaborate broadly with the private sector, innovators, civil society groups, influencers and others to achieve these aims.

So, continuing education through alternative learning pathways, as soon as possible, must also be a top priority right now, to ensure the interruption to education is as limited as possible.  We urgently need to support teachers, parents/caregivers, innovators, communications experts and all those who are positioned to provide education, whether through radio programmes, home-schooling, online learning and other innovative approaches.