ECLAC and UNESCO have launched a report entitled ”Education” in the time of COVID-19 that alerts the international community to the widening of pre-existing gaps due to the pandemic, in terms of both access as well as equity and quality – a situation that will especially affect those most vulnerable.
The report prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago) emphasizes that the contraction in economic activity forecast for the region calls for urgently addressing the need to safeguard financing as a fundamental priority to protect national educational systems from the exacerbation of inequalities in access to education and of the learning crisis.
The document highlights the urgency of calculating the costs of national educational systems and prioritizing spending, as well as ensuring the protection of education as a fundamental human right and harnessing the transformative potential of education, not only to build resilient systems but also to contribute to the social recovery. The study calls for particularly addressing the risk of dropping out of school among the groups most vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic and the consequent health, social, and economic crisis.
The text indicates that the current crisis has given new meaning to social ties and to rebuilding identities and the significance of citizenship, even in a global dimension.
The disruption of the school year has represented an opportunity in terms of adaptation and innovation in teaching, which can entail enormous advances but also accentuate pre-existing educational gaps in the region between students in more vulnerable situations and those with greater advantages with regard to learning outcomes and other educational indicators, such as advancement and continued engagement in school, the document states.
The situation is even more pressing because, according to UNESCO’s available figures on 25 countries in the region, educational spending would have increased by 3.6% between 2019 and 2020 without the pandemic. However, because of the economic contraction, the amount of resources available for education could fall by more than 9% in 2020 alone, with the real budgetary consequences coming to light in 2021.
The United Nations organizations describe in the document that the responses that numerous countries have put in effect have included innovative initiatives and promising practices, as well as important advances in record time to try to ensure educational continuity. In addition, it can be seen that national educational systems face systemic problems and challenges that require the implementation of medium and long-term strategies based on the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.
In this scenario, it becomes indispensable to rethink education, its purpose, and formats. It is necessary to reformulate content and the organization of learning in light of the lessons that the pandemic has already taught us: content that prepares students to understand reality and act in a responsible way and with solidarity, and formats that address diversity and uncertainty, beyond times of crisis.
As countries analyze the best way to tackle uncertainties and reopen their educational institutions safely, this crisis offers an unprecedented opportunity to boost the recovery capacity of national educational systems and to transform them into equitable and inclusive systems that contribute to fulfilling the collective commitment made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Further information
ECLAC – UNESCO Report: Education in the time of COVID-19.
