Call for action: Switzerland supports education in emergencies

Switzerland is setting an example: Together with partner organizations, it is calling on the international community to strengthen education in emergencies.

Empty classrooms, maths lessons via video chat, and children practising for music lessons next to their parents as they work from home – the COVID-19 pandemic has not only fundamentally changed the way Swiss families live together, but also the way children learn. While the right to education is a matter of course in Switzerland and digital lessons have become part of our daily lives during the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic has also highlighted the potential significance of education in emergencies. How should children learn when they cannot attend school, how can we maintain social contact remotely, and how do you coordinate busy family life in a confined space – these are questions that were rarely asked in Switzerland until very recently.

The right to education and learning must continue, even if schools are closed in the interests of public health. Switzerland has the necessary financial resources, the requisite structures and the technical capabilities to switch to a different form of collective learning. But even in countries such as Switzerland, where digital lessons have become the norm in recent weeks, experts say the disruption to the traditional school routine caused by COVID-19 is likely to have a negative impact on learning outcomes. Children from educationally disadvantaged families, in particular, may have missed out and are falling behind. This is a major risk to equality of opportunity and can have academic and social consequences.

The consequences of school closures are even more extreme in developing countries and crisis-hit regions.

“Many education systems in developing countries already had numerous problems to deal with even before the COVID-19 crisis hit – children who were out of school or who were unable to finish their schooling, poor teaching quality, a lack of capacity in education authorities, and mediocre infrastructure. The closure of schools in the context of COVID-19 is an additional burden for many SDC partner countries, which will have long-term implications for the population and the economy,” explains Ambassador Thomas Gass, Head of the South Cooperation Department at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Some 1.6 billion young people have been affected by nationwide school closures for weeks at a time in recent months. This equates to over 90 percent of schoolchildren and students worldwide. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector has been unprecedented and has potential long-term negative social and economic consequences. This is particularly true in developing countries, which already had scarce educational resources and weak education systems before the crisis, and which often have young populations.

Many of these young people live in crisis settings. For children in conflict regions, school is about more than just the opportunity to learn to read, write and count. School means protection, a safe environment, and often better health, too.

For example, 300 million children are reliant on the hot meals that they would normally get at school. The economic pressure on families continues to grow. The UN fears that child labour will increase for the first time in 20 years due to the impact of COVID-19 on the poorest families, and that the progress made in promoting access to education in recent years will be undone.

The interruption to schooling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may result in many poorer children being permanently left behind and not obtaining any qualifications when they leave school. This has long-term negative effects on children’s development and health, on their life chances and future employment prospects, and on the social fabric and economy in fragile and conflict-hit states.

The right to education is a human right that allows children to develop their potential in a safe environment and gives them prospects for the future. This right must not be abandoned in emergencies, even when things become more challenging.

Faced with the additional education challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the anticipated humanitarian, social and economic after-effects, Switzerland has joined forces with partner organisations to launch a call for action. It urges the international community to pay urgent attention to the impact of COVID-19 on children’s education in conflicts, crisis settings, and displacement contexts, and to promote education in emergencies. This is one of the least funded sectors in crisis situations.

Original source: SDC
Published on 18 June 2020