The COVID pandemic has had enormous effects, especially in the education sector. As a result, ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty group, reports on how COVID affects learners. On the onset of the virus, lockdowns, and restrictions have been the order of the day in almost every country globally. In so doing, learners from all learning institutions are to stay at home to help curb the virus’s spread. This translates to months of not getting enough exposure to books and aspects of learning. According to a recent report from the anti-poverty group ONE, about 70 million learners at the age of 10 years old are at risk. In fact, the group points out that due to COVID lockdowns and restrictions to school, most of them might have reading complications.
COVID affects 10-year-old learners at risk
ONE, an anti-poverty organization, perceives that close to 70 million learners could face difficulties reading and understand a sentence. These findings come from the World Bank, UNESCO, and the United Nations population data. Education holds as one of the major pillars in attaining literate and independent personnel for the future.
The report further discloses that 17 percent of the total population is at the risk of a learning crisis. Efforts to re-open schools have been under disruption following the second wave of the COVID pandemic. Clear evidence is in South Africa, where the schools had to be recalled following the surging infections. This is disadvantageous, especially to schools in remote areas that cannot access the internet for online classes.
Fate of learning
Drawing from UNESCO findings, a total of 1.7 billion children from 188 countries faced learning disruptions in 2020. Technology is yet to be integrated into most of the parts of the world. As a result, despite efforts to incorporate the new technology into schools, some still will not be able to. The lack of technology and infrastructure serving further as another hindrance to learning.
According to the UN, about 500 million children globally, based in remote rural areas, suffer the exclusion of education. Moreover, the effects are bound to more severe in the African continent and Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for 40% of the children. If the trend continues, by 2030, the number could rise to 750 million. This translates to 1 in every 10 people suffering illiteracy.
Way forward
To curb the impending crisis in the education sector, the organization discloses a way forward on the issue. The governments will be required to contribute $5 billion to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The group projects that between 2021 and 2025, the funding will help educate 175 million children.
David Mcnair, the executive director for global policy at ONE group, further recounts on importance of this move. Education sets the ground for development in a country. By investing in the young generation, you are investing in the future. Innovations that can help curb some of the health crises and other troubling issues today could be easy to resolve in the future.
Mcnair affirms that this is the right call. He further urges governments to extend their financial support to developing countries to achieve the set goal. In the event of loans, the repayment deadlines should be more to allow the investment of the funds into education.
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