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	World is facing an Education Emergency by Save Our Future, Education Cannot Wait, agencies   Sep. 2021   Education in a quarter of the world’s countries is on the brink of collapse without urgent action – Save the Children   The education of hundreds of millions of children in a quarter of the world's countries is at extreme or high risk of collapsing, Save the Children said today. New analysis from the organisation finds that factors such as climate change, a lack of COVID-19 vaccines, displacement, attacks on schools and lack of digital connectivity are jeopardising access to schooling.   The news that education is on the brink of collapse in 48 countries comes as academic school years tentatively re-start in many parts of the world with millions of children still unable to go into the classroom due to COVID-19 safety measures, economic impacts of the pandemic and continued attacks on education. This is on top of the 258 million children across the world who were already out of school prior to the pandemic.   Leaders need to learn from the COVID-19 education crisis, which has disrupted schooling for more than 90% of the world's learners[ii], and shock-proof education systems to ensure children in a quarter of the world's countries don't have their futures stripped from them, the child rights organisation said.   According to Save the Children's new report, Build Forward Better, the DRC, Nigeria, Somalia, Afghanistan[iii], South Sudan, Sudan, Mali, and Libya have education systems that are at 'extreme risk'. Syria and Yemen follow closely behind.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/build-forward-better-how-global-community-must-act-now-secure-children-s-learning http://www.savethechildren.net/build-forward-better http://www.savethechildren.net/news/one-five-children-fragile-states-risk-dropping-out-school-covid-takes-its-toll-save-children http://www.savethechildren.net/news/covid-19-kids-world’s-poorest-countries-lost-66-more-lifetime-school-richer-peers-save-children   Sep. 2021   Repeated school closures due to COVID-19 leading to learning loss and widening inequities in South Asia, UNICEF research shows   Limited access to devices, low connectivity, and limited teacher contact are severely constraining remote learning in the region.   School closures have led to alarming inequities in learning opportunities for children in South Asia, according to UNICEF research conducted in India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.   School closures in South Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic have interrupted the learning of 434 million children.   According to UNICEF’s research, a substantial proportion of students and their parents reported that students learnt significantly less compared to pre-pandemic levels.   In India, 80 per cent of children aged 14-18 years reported lower levels of learning than when physically at school. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, 69 per cent of parents of primary school children reported that their children were learning “less” or “a lot less.”   Girls, children from the most disadvantaged households and children with disabilities faced the biggest challenges while learning remotely.   “School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low connectivity and device affordability,” said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.   “Even when a family has access to technology, children are not always able to access it. As a result, children have suffered enormous setbacks in their learning journey.”   Low connectivity and access to digital devices have severely hampered efforts to roll out remote learning. In India, 42 per cent of children between 6-13 years reported not using any type of remote learning during school closures.   In Pakistan 23 per cent of younger children didn’t have access to any device that could support remote learning. Poor and disadvantaged households have been the worst hit, with many families struggling to afford even a single device.   Even when devices are available, UNICEF’s research indicates that they are often underutilized and that children’s access to them is often limited. For example, in Pakistan, among children with access to devices, only about 24 per cent could use them when they wanted to.   The research found that student-teacher engagement, when regular and reciprocal, is a strong predictor of success in children’s learning, especially for younger students. However, the surveys found that most students had little or no contact with their teachers after schools closed.   “The safe reopening of schools must be considered an utmost priority for all governments. Parallelly, investing in teachers will ensure that teachers and schools can adapt to all situations. The more teachers are trained, equipped and supported on distance and blended learning, the better they will be able to reach all their students,” added George Laryea-Adjei.   “This is a critical investment we need to make for children as the region gears up for future waves of COVID-19. We need to build public education systems that can weather any storm and keep children learning, no matter the circumstances.”   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/education-disrupted-second-year-covid-19-pandemic-and-school-closures   July 2021   The current COVID-19-induced education crisis, by UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder.   "Even with schools in the northern hemisphere closed for the summer, more than 600 million children in countries not on academic break are still affected by school closures.   "In Asia and the Pacific: in nearly half the countries, schools have been closed for more than 200 days during the pandemic.   "After some of the longest closures ever seen, and despite some returns, in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are 18 countries and territories where schools are either closed or partially closed.   "And based on our most recent estimates, a staggering 40 per cent of all school-aged children across Eastern and Southern Africa are currently not in school. Four in ten.   "Across that region, we are seeing re-closing of schools mid-year due to recent COVID-19 surges, with over 32 million children estimated to be out of school because of pandemic closures or having failed to return once their schools opened earlier this year. That is in addition to an estimated 37 million children who were out of school before the pandemic.   "Education, safety, friends and food have been replaced by anxiety, violence, and teenage pregnancy.   "Take Uganda: between March last year and this June, there was a more than 20 per cent increase in teenage pregnancies. "Child helplines have seen triple-digit rises.   "And for at least a third of the world's schoolchildren, remote learning is simply out of reach. Across East Asia and the Pacific, UNICEF estimates that more than 80 million children did not have access to any distance learning during school closures.   In Eastern and Southern Africa, Uganda schools have been closed for 306 days and the country has the lowest at home internet connectivity (0.3 per cent); followed closely by South Sudan with 231 days of full school closure and again less than half a per cent of schoolchildren have internet access at home.   "In South Africa, school closures mean 400,000 to 500,000 learners have reportedly dropped out of school altogether over the past 16-months.   "And if that doesn't resonate with those in power, then consider a World Bank report that estimates a loss of 10 trillion dollars in earnings over time for this generation of students.   "Quite simply, there is no better investment than education, and here UNICEF is not talking development; but economics: Schooling raises earnings by 10 per cent a year".   http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/education-financing-whats-cost-inaction http://www.educationcannotwait.org/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/child-rights-experts-warn-displaced-children-and-young-people-risk-being-wiped-out http://www.unhcr.org/education.html   29 July 2021   Donors fall short of education funding target, reports Plan International.   At the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Global Education Summit today, donor governments pledged an estimated total of $4 billion, falling short of the ‘at least $5 billion’ target.   Yet developing countries stepped up, pledging a total of $192 billion in domestic education financing.   We welcome the commitments made to girls’ education, particularly from GPE developing country partners, but regrets that the urgency of the current funding gap in education has not been matched with sufficient financial contributions from donor governments.   Education emergency   David Thomson, Executive Director of Strategy and Collaboration for Plan International said:   “COVID-19 has created the biggest education emergency in our lifetime, and gender inequalities will only worsen as the climate crisis continues, leaving more girls at risk of falling behind. We urgently need funding that will address these inequalities, ensuring that every girl has the chance to learn, lead and thrive.   “World leaders had a unique opportunity to meet the urgency of the moment by committing to fund the $5 billion target set by the Global Partnership for Education. Donor government’s failure to grasp the scale of the global education crisis will have far-reaching implications for millions of girls and the most vulnerable learners.   “There has never been a greater need to address the education crisis and invest in education for the most vulnerable. Unless world leaders step up, there is a real risk that decades of progress made on girls’ rights and education will be lost.”   It is feared that 20 million girls may not return to school following the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year alone, the Malala Fund estimates that climate change will prevent at least four million girls from completing their education.   Nnenna Onwuka, from youth organisation Transform Education, hosted by UNGEI, said:   “We have said it before and we will say it again: education for gender equality and climate justice must be a priority. Donor governments don’t seem to get it - $4 billion is simply not enough.   “It is frustrating because this shortfall quite literally affects our lives. But we will not stop, we demand more commitments at COP26 and demand to be listened to in the meantime.”   Developing country partners have pledged a record $192 billion to fund education, with the majority stepping up to meet globally recognized target of 20% of national budget expenditure to education.   The summit also saw strong political commitments on girls’ education, including inclusion of young people and data, technology and innovation, particularly from Cameroon, Malawi and Sierra Leone.   World leaders must fill the education financing gap   Plan International and Transform Education will work together with young people to hold governments to account on these commitments.   While donor governments fell short of the target at the summit this week, there are further opportunities to step up and fill the education financing gap.   As global leaders prepare for the COP26 summit in November, Plan International and Transform Education are urging world leaders to listen to girls and fund their demands for education that advances gender and climate justice, while continuing to prioritise girls’ education in their Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) investments.   http://plan-international.org/news/2021-07-29-donors-fall-short-education-funding-target-gpe   27 July 2021   As Ministers of education and other leading stakeholders in education meet on 28-29 July 2021 at the Global Education Summit, 36 CSOs call on governments to make robust funding commitments for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and urge GPE and its partners to use the money raised during the summit in support of free public education and to ensure that no funding is used to support commercial actors, in accordance with human rights requirements.   GPE is the main multilateral funding body solely dedicated to transforming education in lower-income countries. It plays a critical role in the strengthening of education systems of dozens of countries.   World education leaders are meeting at the Global Education Summit with a target to raise at least 5 billion US Dollars for 2021–2025, in order to fund developing countries’ education plans.   The signing organisations strongly support the full replenishment of the GPE by donors, and call on States to commit to maintain or increase the current share of the national budget allocated to education (aiming at least 6% of GDP).   In addition, while increased funding will be crucially important, how the money will be spent is equally critical. A new policy brief published today that reviews seven case studies in developing countries, from Namibia to Brazil, through Vietnam, shows that well-organised public education systems are possible everywhere, with political will and use of locally relevant practices.   Yet as noted in a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed previous failures to invest adequately in public education, exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, and has raised concerns about the unsustainable nature of large-scale private involvement in education.   The risk is particularly high for the most marginalised, including girls, children with disabilities, and impoverished people who depend on fully funded good quality, free public systems for their education.   GPE Member States, which are all parties to one or more treaties protecting the right to education, can also seek guidance in the Abidjan Principles, which were adopted in 2019 and are the reference text to implement the right to education in the current context.   In a new July 2021 resolution, the United Nations Human Rights Council asked States to invest the maximum of available resources in public education, and called on UN agencies to work with the GPE and civil society to provide technical support to States to realise the right to education in the COVID-19 and post-COVID context.   The Council also recognised for the second time the Abidjan Principles, which recalls that “international assistance and cooperation, where provided, must reinforce the building of free, quality, public education systems”.   The signing organisations urge States and education stakeholders participating at the GPE Summit to ensure that GPE’s funding and technical engagement are aligned with the right to education, in particular by fulfilling the right to free, quality, inclusive public education.   http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/new-brief-and-statement-gi-escr-and-36-csos-call-on-world-education-leaders-to-use-multi-billion-dollars-funding-to-support-public-education http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/amidst-covid-19-un-human-rights-council-reaffirms-recognition-of-the-abidjan-principles-public-statement http://www.abidjanprinciples.org/ http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/report-of-the-un-special-rapporteur-highlights-how-the-abidjan-principles-can-guide-states-response-to-the-impact-of-the-covid-19-crisis-on-the-right-to-education http://www.gi-escr.org/private-actors-social-services/education http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/PrivatisationOfEducation.aspx http://www.ei-ie.org/en/workarea/1311:achieving-sustainable-development-goal-4   June 2021   Where are the girls and why it matters as schools reopen, by Wongani Grace Taulo, Omar Robles. (Unicef)   “Where are the girls?” It’s a question that is asked too much when stepping into classrooms around the world. And the further up the school years we go, the more the question bounces around an echo chamber.   Significant progress have been made in girls’ education. Between 1995 and 2018, 180 million more girls enrolled in primary and secondary school globally. However, a learning crisis persists – and COVID-19’s impact risks reversing these gains.   While the global learning crisis highlights deficient quality in education systems around the world, it goes much deeper for girls.   Girls face multiple vulnerabilities that inhibit their ability to access a basic education: risk of child marriage, early pregnancy, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, sexual exploitation and child labour.   All these barriers are heightened during crises. Indeed, previous emergencies suggest that girls are at elevated risk of dropping out of school.   For example, teenage pregnancies increased during the Ebola crisis, with a high percentage of adolescent girls undergoing first-time pregnancy during the outbreak.   Life does not freeze during a pandemic. Some children have benefited from digital learning modalities, while others have had all learning opportunities removed.   Girls in particular face more pressure than boys to prioritize household chores and family care. And the fact is, even temporary lack of access makes it difficult to re-enter education.   School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic could drive over 20 million more secondary school-aged girls out of school after the crisis has passed around the world.   Already, there are indications of a gender gap in re-enrolment. For example, in Kenya, only 84 per cent of adolescent girls have re-enrolled compared to 92 per cent of adolescent boys.   It does not have to be this way. We know what to do to ensure every girl’s right to education is realized. But it will require a concerted effort and considerable resources to make this happen.   Education systems need support to be more gender-responsive and prioritize girls’ safety, protection, and learning.   Every reopening and recovery plan must apply an equity and inclusion lens. We need to ask not just what children need to re-engage in education, but specifically, what do girls need?   How do we bring the learning environment to the most marginalized child? What options are there for affordable distance learning? What incentivizes their return to the classroom? How do we mobilize communities and parents to help them understand the value of educating their girls – and then support them to make that happen? How do we increase investments?   If we can ask these questions from the beginning of the recovery process, we can not only bring girls who had previously attended school back in, but also support previously out-of-school girls to enrol and stay in schools.   It is also paramount for girls to develop secondary-level knowledge and skills and become equipped to transition to further education and/or work.   Secondary education has a positive effect on cognitive skills, which correlates strongly with increased wages and GDP growth, poverty reduction, and reduced fertility and population growth. It can also protect them from early marriage and sexual exploitation.   http://www.unicef.org/education/girls-education http://plan-international.org/news/2021-06-14-g7-leaders-fund-ambitious-girls-education-targets http://saveourfuture.world/ http://www.globalpartnership.org/events/global-education-summit-financing-gpe-2021-2025 http://www.ungei.org/news-views/blog http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/articles/ http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/calling-africa-ensure-girls-go-back-school-post-covid-19-closures http://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/14/new-pledges-end-child-marriage-francophone-africa http://www.hrw.org/report/2021/05/17/years-dont-wait-them/increased-inequalities-childrens-right-education-due-covid http://campaignforeducation.org/en/2021/04/29/gce-and-gpe-joint-statement-call-for-more-and-better-education-financing/   * Building back Equal: Girls back to school guide.   Authors: UNESCO, United Nations Children's Fund, PLAN International, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, Malala Fund.   The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the largest disruption of education in history. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed schools and other learning spaces in recent months in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.   At the peak of the pandemic in April 2020, these nationwide closures impacted more than 1.5 billion students, or over 90% of the world’s student population, from pre-primary to higher education in 200 countries.   This unprecedented disruption to education has the potential to roll back substantial gains made on girls’ education in recent decades, with broader immediate and longer-term effects on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to poverty reduction, health and well-being, inclusive quality education and gender equality.   The most marginalised, including girls with disabilities, those in conflict-affected contexts, remote and rural communities and those in the poorest quintile, are expected to be most affected by COVID-related school closures, facing additional constraints on their ability to fulfil their right to education, health and protection, among other rights.   As some schools and education institutions around the world have reopened and others are preparing to do so, governments, education sector officials, community leaders, teachers and school staff should see this as an opportunity to build back equal, through gender-responsive measures that transform education systems, prioritise resilience and address the key bottlenecks and barriers to girls’ education.   http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374094 http://en.unesco.org/news/unfulfilled-promise-12-years-education-every-girl http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality http://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse http://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086232 http://www.unicef-irc.org/research/education/ http://www.unicef-irc.org/article/2086-nutrition-crisis-looms-as-more-than-39-billion-in-school-meals-missed-since-start-of-pandemic-unicef-and-wfp.html http://www.unicef-irc.org/covid19/ http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/covid19
	Children's Right to Be Heard: We're Talking; Are You Listening? by ChildFund Alliance, agencies   As countries usher in 2021, children throughout the world continue to grapple with unprecedented hardships resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic that turned the world upside down in 2020.   The global health crisis prompted lockdown efforts that raised the risk of violence, hunger, child labor, child marriage, and school dropouts—particularly among girls.   It also curtailed opportunities for children to engage in activities aimed at promoting their right to be heard.   What the virus did not destroy, however, was children’s resolve to find and use their voices, to mobilize peers as a force for change, and to raise awareness of the critical importance of learning from children’s experiences.   Children have the right to participate in decisions affecting their lives and to expect that decision makers will listen to and consider their views.   The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, and other subsequent legal and normative standards have reinforced and built upon this right.   The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development makes clear a commitment by Member States to recognize children as ‘agents of change‘ and to provide an important opportunity to accelerate the realization of this right.   When children have the opportunity to share their opinions, they demonstrate the ability to advance their own protection, end violence against them, foster more inclusive and responsive social structures, and collectively fulfill their dreams of developing better communities for themselves and new generations.   Yet, global societal norms, insufficient resources, and adults’ lack of understanding or support often inhibit children’s meaningful participation.   Children who live in the most marginalized situations, including those with disabilities, children without parental care, girls, indigenous and other vulnerable children, including those who do not speak their country’s official language, often face extreme barriers that inhibit their participation and create missed opportunities for decision makers.   While digital technologies offer new occasions for children’s participation, such as large-scale surveys and online platforms for mobilizing, they also bring new risks for children, including online bullying and abuse.   Further, the “digital divide” between children who have access to electricity and to information communication technology, and those who do not, can precipitate an uneven realization of children’s right to be heard.   In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital exclusion has massive repercussions in all countries for children’s access to space for civic participation, as well as fulfillment of other fundamental rights.   Recent research shows children are eager to have their voices heard and to play a pivotal role in halting the spread of the virus and minimizing its negative impacts.   During consultations for this policy brief, children reported it was very important that they maintain strong peer participation groups and connections to other adolescents and children during lockdowns. They also shared that participation during lockdowns helped promote positive mental health and lessen anxiety and loneliness.   Joining Forces recognizes that children’s participation in decision-making is more impactful – both for them and for society as a whole – when children are able to participate in an environment that enables their empowerment.   During the course of preparing this paper, children from around the world had the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences orally, in writing, and during an online forum held on Universal Children’s Day.   With their guidance and counsel, Joining Forces calls on all relevant actors to recognize and support key actions to ensure children’s rights are respected and achieved worldwide.   http://childfundalliance.org/resources/publications/4236-children-s-right-to-be-heard-we-re-talking-are-you-listening   * Access the briefing via the link below: http://bit.ly/3sugl2Q Visit the related web page
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