UNITED NATIONS: Almost two years into the coronavirus pandemic, school closures continue to disrupt the lives of over 31 million students in mostly developing countries, exacerbating what the United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called “a global learning crisis.”
“Unless we take action, the share of children leaving school in developing countries who are unable to read could increase from 53 to 70 per cent”, the UN chief warned in a video message marking the International Day of Education on Monday.
The secretary-general noted that the “chaos” that COVID-19 caused in education worldwide, saying that, at the pandemic’s peak, some 1.6 billion school and college students had their studies interrupted.
Despite the improvement, he believes the crisis is “not over yet”, and the turmoil goes beyond questions of access and inequality. The theme for the day this year, is “Changing course, transforming education.” The world, Guterres said, is “changing at a dizzying pace, with technological innovation, unprecedented changes in the world of work, the onset of the climate emergency, and a widespread loss of trust between people and institutions.” In this scenario, he believes conventional education systems are “struggling” to deliver the knowledge, skills and values needed to create a greener, better and safer future for all. Because of these challenges, he is convening a Summit on Transforming Education in September. –Agencies
