A
UNESCO COVID-19 Education webinar, organized on 15 July 2020, under the high
patronage of Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on
Literacy for Development, shed light on the importance of early childhood care
and education (ECCE) to ensure that learning and wellbeing of young children is
given due consideration when educational and care services are disrupted, with
a special attention given to vulnerable young children.
More
than 1.5 billion students in over 180 countries, of whom 155 million
children at pre-school level, are affected by the largest disruption to
education since the creation of the United Nations, said Stefania
Giannini, UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Education, in the opening of
the webinar which attracted more than 1000 participants including global
leaders, country policymakers, ECCE practitioners and education partners.
Global
impact of COVID-19 on early childhood education
The
closure of schools and other institutions that provide social protection, health,
nutrition, learning and socio-emotional nurturing to young children represents
an immense threat to their development potential. In response, UNESCO, together
with a number of partner organizations, will be launching the #Save Our Future
campaign this month to protect and prioritize education as the key to the
recovery – and the best investment for our future. This includes early
childhood education as “an equalizer and a changer” calling for a paradigm
shift in education, Ms Giannini said.
The
overview of the global impact of COVID-19 on early childhood education
presented by Mr Gwang-Chol Chang, Chief of Education Policy Section at UNESCO,
showed the findings of global surveys and consultations that UNESCO conducted,
in collaboration with UNICEF and the World Bank regarding the impact of
COVID-19 on education systems and more particularly on early childhood
education.
Although,
some countries have been taking measures to support families, caregivers and
children, such as financial support, psychological counselling, and emergency
childcare service available to frontline volunteers, the general
observation is that during school closures, pre-primary education was
relatively neglected compared to other levels of education.
The
main challenge, as stated by Her Royal Highness Princess Laurentien of the
Netherlands, is that ‘early childhood development has always been
a blind spot in our pre-COVID societies and the pandemic has shown
how vulnerable young children are’, asking ‘why ECCE is the forgotten child in
our societies’. ‘We failed our younger children’ she further deplored.
Country
experiences
A
ministerial round-table offered the occasion to Ministers of Education and
their representatives from the different regions of the world to present their
experiences and priority actions in this area. In Seychelles, for example, the
Minister presented an effective communication plan implemented and
strong commitment of ECCE leaders which contributed to mobilize and
engage all stakeholders while the Minister of Cambodia explained how
public-private partnership was built to ensure learning continuity, in
the use of online platforms, social medial and TV and Radio channels for
children with no access to the internet, and even paper-based material for those
who did not have access to any distance learning solution with particular
attention to children from vulnerable groups.
From
the Arab region, the representative of the Minister of Qatar explained that the
State has invested in ECCE, by turning to distance education, focusing on
support to parents and children and support to children with special needs,
through special channels of communication. The Representative from Uruguay
explained the new way of learning implemented in the country without
compromising health and safety. Finally, Saudi Arabia, as chair of G20
which has ECCE as theme in its agenda, shared the initiative of virtual
kindergarten for children 3-6 years of age, initiated before and
amplified during the COVID-19 crisis.
Call
for action
Referring
to the paradigm shift called upon by UNESCCO’s Assistant Director-General for
Education, Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands called on all stakeholders to
have a discussion at a strategic level. Early childhood development should no
longer be considered only a mere educational issue and should not be put on the
sidelines of the discussions and strategy for economic recovery. It should be
part of the discussions in multilateral fora because it is a strategic option,
the best investment for societies. “Recovery cannot be just about investing in
companies - it must also be about investing in the citizens of tomorrow”, the
Princess said.
Two
actions were announced to start with:
·
Train some 200,000 early childhood
teachers and educators – including through online and offline platforms and
sharing of already available pedagogical resources - with the support of Global
Education Coalition.
·
Agree on a global strategy for ECCE with
effective collaboration, building alliances and engaging in an innovative
dialogue.
Reacting
to the Call for Action, UN agencies and International NGOs representatives,
from UNICEF, The World Bank, WHO, ILO, Right to Play, OMEP, Right to education
Initiative, Save the Children and ECDAN, shared insights and commitments in
this area, all recognizing that it is critical time to put ECCE as a priority
in the agenda for recovery.
In
her closing remarks Princess Laurentien stressed her impatience for action and
call for introspection from ECCE stakeholders and called upon UNESCO, as the
lead global UN organization for education, to call for a dialogue on how to act
concretely to make ECCE at the core of the discussion on Covid-19 recovery
strategies. ‘I shall chair this dialogue immediately after the summer’ she
committed.
Stefania
Giannini confirmed UNESCO's willingness to work with all the partners present
to identify and carry out concrete actions and stressed her own impatience to
act. She welcomed the fact that the webinar had made it possible to gather the
commitment of important stakeholders to work together.
The
webinar was organized in the context of the Global
Education Coalition launched by UNESCO and bringing together more than
140 partner organizations.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento