Recovering and Revitalizing Education for a COVID-19 Generation

​Three years ago, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development. This year's  theme, Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation is a stark reminder that education is a human right, a public good and a public responsibility. This week,  GOFAD explores the context of this theme and plans a subsequent focus on actual examples toward achieving its  aspirations. 
 
An Evolving COVID-19 Generation 
 
Functioning during the current pandemic  has taught us that Education for the COVID 19  generation is not only linked to formal institutions and general sources like books but also that in times of crises, education must not be paused. Hence, through online engagements and  devices like mobiles and computers, there was little risk of getting contaminated with the virus. It demonstrated that through innovative applications,  education  provides hope of  what works to stimulate the mind. Children suffered from the lack of 'community' stimulation in the formal school system  but online education provided alternative ways to meet their demands. Education was sustained in  the form of new modes of  working and new avenues for exploring historical, artistic and cultural geo-spaces that  brought people out of depression and anxiety.
 
Yet the experience of adopting to educational requirements during a pandemic has illustrated that without inclusive and equitable  opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that are leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind. UNESCO's  Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 shows that  258 million children and youth still do not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school and some four million children and youth refugees are out of school. Their right to education is being violated and it is unacceptable.
 
 Value of Schools and  links between Health and Education 
 
The purpose of the 2021 theme is to strengthen and welcome the revival of education whose normal modes were frozen with the wave of coronavirus starting  from china and  encapsulating the whole world. The pandemic gave new meaning to globalization.  Now, a ray of hope has appeared with the discovery of vaccines inspired by  global efforts of the scientific community . The looming impediment to a hopeful reality is whether or not the global governance of vaccines would permit equitable access and equal opportunities for the  Covid-19 generation in the North and South to start going to school, college and universities.
 
A  recent article in the Lancet Journal, "Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives"  
(January 21, 2020) warns of the consequences of these  inequities and shows in particular,  the intrinsic link between education and health. Schools are identified as a  setting where children and adolescents live and learn, linked to the family and embedded within the wider community. They   have an important influence on every student's health. Many health interventions have used schools as a platform, often for standalone programmatic initiatives to reduce health risks, and sometimes for more comprehensive approaches. The authors provide evidence to show that the interventions, uptake, and sustainability of these approaches are generally disappointing. They argue that to improve health and to reduce inequality, all students must attend school from a young age and for as long as possible, and their educational success therein must be maximized. Thus, beyond educational benefits, schools are also important for health. Coherence between each school's policies, structures and systems, human resources, and practices is required to advance both academic and health outcomes. "Beyond simply implementing ready-made programmes into schools, health professionals can position themselves as catalysts for structural change as they have many opportunities to advocate for, and participate in, the intersectoral implementation of reforms and innovations in school systems to promote the health of all students".
 
 
In support of this view, UN Secretary General,  Antonio Guterres aptly proclaims that education is a basic need of every person. Its importance is  described in the SDG #4 ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.    Through this  aspirational goal  the UN General Assembly promotes a message of global vigilance  to every corner of the world.  It sounds the clarion call for  the betterment and welfare that education keeps inside itself: " an educated individual, a civilized individual and hence a civilized society, blessed with opportunities and optimism"
 
COVID-19 and the Moral Imagination  

Once again it is the Lancet January 22, 2021, and reference to the moral imagination that has placed the issue squarely on the  agenda,  It refers to a  "cosmopolitan moment", when the existing order is destabilized to open up a new arena of moral and political responsibility.
                  
In this cosmopolitan moment, the global community could come together
 to create new institutions or mechanisms to address the structural causes 
of global inequity and promote the wellbeing of people and the planet.
 
The argument is  that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the dysfunctional system of global governance that  exacerbate  barriers and bottlenecks to achieving global reforms such as  SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Why?:  because they conflict with powerful global actors pursuing their own economic goals, national security, and sovereignty. Yet there is a possible recovery path through international cooperation and multilateralism which GOFAD previously addressed  pointing to need for innovative approaches to debt relief , expanding  funding for development assistance, and  investments in  technological solutions and emergency preparedness and response. 
https://www.globalonefrontier.org/blog/as-the-un-celebrates-its-75th-anniversary-multilateralism-is-at-the-crossroads
 
 
How to drive our moral imagination for the COVID -19 generation must preoccupy educators, health practitioners and policy makers. It must also draw on the perspectives of what Lancet refers to as 'Influential idea-generators', multilateral agencies, advocacy coalitions, and philanthropists. The aim is to achieve   viable pathways to recovery for a healthier and more equal future for people and the planet while revitalizing education for the COVID 19 generation.  
 
 
References 
 
Prof Didier Jourdan, PhD Nicola J Gray, PhD Prof Margaret M Barry, PhD Sonja Caffe, PhD Christophe Cornu, MA Fatou Diagne,  "Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives"  
The Lancet: January 21, 2021
 
Mahomed Said Patel, Christine Beatrice Phillips  "COVID 19 and the Moral Imagination" The Lancet, January 22, 2021 
 
Garfield Barnwell, " As the UN Celebrates its 75th Anniversary Multilateralism at the Cross Roads"  GOFAD Blog  September 7, 2020


 
Eddie Greene