Combating COVID-19: Updates

Statistical institutes in low- and middle-income countries face significant pressures to collect education data under quarantine. Given the difficulties imposed by the Covid-19 crisis, the basic questions for ministries of education, their agencies and statistical institutions are: (i) what data to collect, and (ii) how to collect it, to monitor learning equity. These questions, along with others, are discussed in the article. (World Education Blog)

The Covid-19 outbreak closed universities and other tertiary education institutions in 175 countries, affecting over 220 million post-secondary students. Some institutions moved their classes to online and distance education platforms thanks to their pre-existing experience, but many others struggled. In some countries, this lack of preparedness resulted in delays in moving the courses online; in others, governments have halted higher education completely for an indefinite period of time. (World Education Blog)

Since February 2020, school closures in 190 countries have caused widespread disruption of the education of 1.27 billion children and youth or some 95% of primary and secondary students worldwide. While governments in four out of five countries with school closures have proposed national distance learning alternatives in efforts to ensure continuity of curriculum-based study and learning, other countries have not. (World Education Blog)

For the first time since the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, UN and multilateral agencies from across health, education, agriculture, WASH, and social welfare sectors have come together to make a renewed commitment to school health and nutrition. (UNESCO)

UNESCO and Ericsson launched the Teaching AI for K-12 Portal. This portal will provide a one-stop repository of resources for all educators around the world. The aim is to help curriculum developers and teachers to better understand the promise and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to develop AI curriculum for students of 5 to 18 years old. (UNESCO)

Over 620 members of UNESCO’s Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) from 80 countries came together to share their experiences of learning and living in confinement, in a webinar organized on 12 May 2020, organized in collaboration with UNESCO IITE. Mirroring global educational disruption, 95% of schools belonging to this network of 12,000 member schools in 182 countries are closed. The webinar was the first of its kind for the ASPnet community, UNESCO’s largest network, in its 65 years of existence. (UNESCO)

The National Commissions for UNESCO joined the first Online Meeting on COVID-19. The main objective of this meeting was to discuss with the National Commissions key initiatives launched by UNESCO to respond to COVID-19 and key activities initiated by National Commissions at national level. (UNESCO)

It has been around two months since schools closed in more than 190 countries, affecting 1.57 billion children and youth – 90% of the world’s student population. According to UNESCO data, 100 countries have not yet announced a date for schools to reopen, 65 have plans for partial or full reopening, while 32 will end the academic year online. For 890 million students however, the school calendar has never been so undefined. (UNESCO)

The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) just launched its new Knowledge Platform. The portal will facilitate information sharing on teachers and teaching issues among members and non-members of the TTF. The new platform features resources from TTF members and other external partners. (TTF)

A new UNESCO resource paper on preparing the reopening of schools combines information from current practices with experience and lessons learnt from past crises in an effort to raise awareness about the most critical aspects around school reopening and offer policy directions to support policy-making and practice around this complex manner. (UNESCO)

Cooperation between UNESCO and its UNESCO Chairs dealing with human rights and social inclusion issues stems from the need to better understand the social impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable segments of the population and the mitigating measures adopted so far. With educational institutions at all levels closing in 191 countries, learning continues through distance and notably digital solutions. Yet, for many students in tertiary education online teaching is not an option. (UNESCO)