Almost two years have passed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that ultimately reshaped the world as we know it. Although vaccines and treatments are now available, and the healthcare crisis is manageable in most countries around the world, the pandemic has many sectors still struggling to recover. While education plays an important role in surpassing the crisis and building a better future, it is also one of the sectors to now face more disruption. The pandemic has not only led to COVID-19 related school closures around the world, but it also boosted digital transformations that may have significant implications for the right to education.
According to a new UNESCO report that defines international education goals, this sector is still facing new risks that countries around the world should consider when updating their educational systems. Climate change, autocratization, increasing social inequality, and growing social fragmentation are just some of the issues that educational institutions all around the world should resolve, says Fernando Reimers, director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University and member of UNESCO’s commission on the Futures of Education. Moreover, with the new coronavirus variant, other new issues might also appear.
Building a better future
Fernando Reimers goes on to say that educational institutions should align their future policies to respond to the four challenges above, or they may run the risk of putting our entire future in peril. Moreover, Reimers says that the United States, in particular, should align its education system to address these challenges, because it now faces a disconnection between education and the big issues facing America and the rest of the world. While these statements may sound excessively alarming, they are backed by scientific data presented in the UNESCO report showing that the decades leading to 2050 may be decisive for the future of humans and all other life forms on Earth.
According to the data, measures to reduce carbon emissions will ultimately influence the future and might even have ripple effects for hundreds of thousands of years to come. Likewise, the world is also facing serious backsliding in democratic governance and an increase in populism. These political changes are predicted to stay for several decades, causing numerous shifts in education. Ultimately, not only can political disruptions reshape educational agendas everywhere, but education might, in turn, cause new political changes in the future. However, studies prove that an increase in standard civic education can play an important role in long-term political socialization, preserving democratization.
Fighting inequality and social fragmentation
Civic education is not only essential in addressing populism, but also in fighting growing inequality and social fragmentation. It’s no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has generated inconceivable suffering everywhere, as it went on to cause the worst economic, health, and social crisis of the 21st century. However, according to the World Bank, the suffering has been extremely unequal. Pandemic related school closures affected more than 1.6 billion learners around the world, exacerbating existing inequalities in education. That is why a focus on equity and learning recovery is extremely critical now and in the following years, and so is delivering good education to all children and youth.
When it comes to inequality and social fragmentation, the COVID-19 pandemic led to setbacks with important effects for both education and training. During the crisis, people around the world depended on technology to maintain social relations, continue their daily activities (thanks to remote working), and learn. However, access to digital technologies is by no means equal, and digital education proved to be harder to access for those who might need it the most. According to the UNESCO report, digital literacy, apps, devices, and access to the Internet are very unequally distributed both between and within countries, and education is now facing increasing disregard for those who value and rely on low-tech forms of knowledge.
Return to normal in education
With vaccines and treatments now available in the US and abroad, many are hoping that education will soon return to normal. However, it’s important to note that not only did the pandemic exacerbate changes that were already in the making, like the rapid shift towards digital education, but it also proved current policies in education remain fragile when confronted with a global crisis. With new variants of the virus that provoked this crisis now emerging, so are new questions about the future of education in America and abroad. Only time will tell if educational institutions everywhere will manage to resolve these issues, and ultimately ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.
