TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gears up to organize a special meeting on October 22. The United Nation bureau informed that the purpose of the global education meeting is to preserve and expand knowledge, given the adverse situation which subjects education funding to further risks of lagging in domiciliary budgets of the government, incentive packages and foreign aid.
Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director of Education at UNESCO, said, “By convening this extraordinary session of the GEM next month, our aim is to secure commitments from political leaders to position education at the centre of national and international efforts to recover swiftly, inclusively and sustainably from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Gianni revealed that the critical concern of the agency is to balance education funding even if they are unable to increase it. The step is necessary to overcome a “generational catastrophe”.
“To be fit for purpose and respond to a radically new reality, we need a more integrated, influential and accountable coordination system for education, entirely geared to building back better through stronger links between policy steering and finance. It is precisely in this spirit that the 2020 GEM will also launch an inclusive consultation on a roadmap for the improvement of the global SDG 4 – Education 2030 coordination mechanism,” he added.
Some of the critical points that the committee will discuss upon, in the session include preservation of home and foreign funding of education, the safe reopening of education institutions, discussion on inclusion, equity and gender impartiality. Besides, it will also focus on the reconsideration of the teaching-learning process, facilitating equally distributed connectivity and technologies for acquiring knowledge.
“Behind the 2020 GEM is the resolve to speak with one voice, against the backdrop of unprecedented disruption that requires us, as a global community, to be disruptive in how we act. This sense of urgency drives the GEM – it pulls the alarm on the dramatic consequence that any decline in aid and national budgets will have on an already deep education crisis,” Giannini stated.
As per the UNESCO reports, the worldwide lockdown in the view of COVID-19 pandemic led the students to suffer badly. Around 154 crore learners are struggling due to the closure of schools, colleges and other institutions amid Coronavirus. Since schools across the globe are planning to reopen amid the outbreak, UN agencies UNESCO and UNICEF along with World Bank and the World Food Programme recently released protocols and guidelines to conduct the classes safely. Besides, it highlighted that the extensive shut down of education institutions subjected students’ health and education to high risk.
COVID outbreak has affected more than 3.2 crore people across the world. It has resulted in 9.82 lakh deaths. Besides, it has forced people towards unemployment and illiteracy. Hence, it is necessary to works towards the expansion of education.