Pontifical Academy for Life releases document
on Covid and Education
To know more - full texts
Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede - 21 dicembre 2020 - Italian - English - Spanish
The Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life releases a
new document on the dire consequences Covid-19 has had on education, and calls
for schools to reopen to children.
By Francesca Merlo
On Wednesday, the Pontifical Academy for Life
presented a new Document entitled: "The Pandemic and the Challenge of
Education" which has been prepared in collaboration with the Dicastery for
Integral Human Development and the Covid-19 Vatican Commission.
A parallel
pandemic
The text begins by stating that the impact of
the Covid-19 crisis on the lives of children and adolescents requires a focus
on what has been called a “parallel pandemic” , that is the psycho-social
stress caused by the Covid-19, resulting in distress and illnesses with
different consequences according to age and social backgrounds.
The aim of the Document s to treasure the
experience of recent months and recognize the “positive resources” that emerged
during the pandemic, identifying some particularly critical issues
"in order to face the immediate future with the hope that the younger
generations deserve", the PAV explains in the introduction.
Children’s and
adoloscents' resources
The first point highlighted in the text is that
children and young people are showing a mature capacity to be sensitised to and
involved in the understanding the pandemic and its effects. “Among the
youngest sensitivity to questions and answers concerning pain, illness and
treatment increases” and “this sensitivity represents a first and important
step in the development of a moral conscience”, the document remarks.
Resilience
Another positive feature that has emerged during these
tragic months is that of resilience the capacity of the younger
generations to resist, in the face of negative events. Indeed, PAV remarks that
“young people know how to resist”.
However, the text emphasizes the importance of family
and community support and guidance, because even though they are resilient,
children and young people should not be left alone in the face traumatic
events.
The document further remarks that elaborating what
happened also provides an opportunity to develop their trust in science: “The
younger generations, raised in a highly technological and scientifically
explainable world, can be helped to recognize that science is a process of
success and failure that brings us closer to the truth. At the same time, at a
time when ideological denial of the value of scientific research emerges, the
pandemic presents a significant opportunity to reaffirm the value and nobility
of the human being and of the gift of his intellectual abilities”.
Four urgent
challenges
The document goes on to point out the need for society
to take responsibility for the younger generations, highlighting four areas
which need particular attention.
Reopening
schools
The first area of concern is school closure. The
document points out that, although the decision to close schools was justified
by the scientific community to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, this
measure should be considered in the future “only as the last resort."
Indeed, containment measures that have forced children
to switch to remote learning have impoverished their intellectual development
and deprived them of important relationships, even more so in the more
disadvantaged and poorer social strata.
The PAV calls attention to five critical aspects. The
first one concerns countries in the Southern part of the globe, where school
closures have increased the rate of school drop-outs: “At least 10 million
children in the world today will not return to school. Many of them become
victims of social conditions that force them into child labour and
exploitation”.
Secondly, “closings have limited access to education,
accentuating the inequalities due to the ‘digital divide’”. Also poorer
children have been deprived of school lunches, while, in wealthier countries,
school closures have encouraged unhealthy diets and lifestyles with reduced
physical activity resulting in frequent weight gain and impacting on mental
health.
Finally, school closures have increased addiction to
the internet, video games or television (binge watching).
In the face of this dramatic situation, reopening
schools is therefore a priority, the PAV emphasizes: “Mandatory school closings
have made us realize how important it is to ‘go to school’. Young people today
believe reopening is a goal to be achieved because they sense its educational
and social value”.
Safeguarding
family relationships
The document goes on to speak about safeguarding
family relationships. While noting that the pandemic has offered
parents the opportunity to share more time with their children and therefore to
rediscover their “vocation” as educators, PAV also remarks the negative impact
on families of long lockdowns, including domestic violence, behavioural
disorders and increased parental stress. Hence the need for adequate social,
cultural, urban, economic support for families.
Education to
universal fraternity
The third point highlighted in the text is education
toward universal fraternity. The PAV notes that Covid-19 has
offered a valuable opportunity for educators to open children’s minds and
horizons, to teach them “not to escape the prospects of globalisation,
the achievements of science, the ecological challenge, the economic and social
perspective with its inequalities, the role of social media and technology”.
“With the pandemic the whole world has entered every
home. It is up to the world of educators to translate all this and value
it so that the new generations might open their eyes and become more aware of
the world and of their responsibility as citizens and believers”, the document
emphasizes.
Transmitting
faith in the God of life
The fourth point is about the importance of
transmitting Christian faith. Noting that the pandemic has disrupted Church
educational activities, the document underlines the urgent need to “re-think”
the pastoral care of the younger generations.
”The pandemic itself”, it says, “needs to be
considered as an opportunity to deepen and focus on themes of great importance
for faith education”, which was perhaps neglected before the pandemic
broke out. In this regard, the PAV once again emphasizes the central role
played by the family .
Conclusion
In the concluding remarks, the Pontifical Academy for
Life insists on the urgent need to remove “the serious obstacles that prevent a
"healthy and positive” entry of children and adolescents into society and
to create the conditions necessary for this to happen, the first of which is
allowing children to go back to school.
