Looking back at the year that just ended is crossing your fingers with a grimace of displeasure, asking that the world never experience something similar again.
The reasons, associated with the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic, are known to all, first of all, the many deceased and infected, which generate the greatest pain.
But there is another great wound caused by that coronavirus in the very chest of the planet, whose terrible consequences we will pick up in the medium and long term: the impacts on education, with the consequent impact on a whole generation.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimated that some 24 million students, from kindergarten to university, are unlikely to return to their schools after class interruptions due to the COVID-19.
In fact, nearly 1.6 billion students from more than 190 countries saw their academic institutions close, at least in the most serious stage of the pandemic on their land, and this represents 94 percent of the total number of students on the planet. It’s not little.
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It is not news that before the new coronavirus appeared on the world scene, there were already people of all ages in the world whose education was at risk, that is, those in vulnerable situations, especially economically, disadvantaged by bearing the label of immigrant or ethnic minority, because of their race, because of a disability, or because they are marked with some distinctive feature of a supposed “norm”.
In that case there were more than 250 million children, who no longer went to school before the pandemic, while almost 800 million adults were illiterate, according to the UN report “Education during COVID-19 and beyond.”
The Secretary General of that organization, António Guterres, assured that “we were facing a learning crisis before the pandemic, and with the pandemic it has worsened, affecting its consequences especially to students at risk of social exclusion.”
We are facing a generational disaster unprecedented in the history of education, assure connoisseurs on the subject of teaching and pedagogy, and there are painful reasons for such a statement, confirmed in the GEM regional report on inclusion and education for Latin America and the Caribbean, from 2020, which UNESCO entitled Todos y todos without exception and where it confirms that inequality and discrimination have an impact on the distribution of opportunities and educational results.
The aforementioned report reveals – or rather, confirms – that this pandemic has exacerbated inequalities including in the educational sphere. To such an extent they have been selfishness and indifference that 40 percent of the countries in the world have not supported students at risk.
A call to foster more egalitarian and resilient societies is underlined in that text, which cries out to focus on those left behind as schools reorganize.
“To rise to the challenges of our time, it is imperative to move towards a more inclusive education”, stressed the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay.
But how can we approach this inclusive education if while almost a hundred countries incorporated distance and online learning during the pandemic, more than 500 million children cannot access this alternative and in particular close to 47 percent of the students of Primary and Secondary for lacking a computer, tablet or cell phone, or Internet connection.
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Another no less important issue is added to the issue of technology: The privatization of education endangers the right to education, as this global health crisis also demonstrated.
It is undeniable, to achieve this inclusive education requires a government political will as well as good intentions.
The Cuban school
It is precisely that political will that has led to Cuban results in education and also its international leadership in that order during 2020, recently recognized by Unesco.
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Said educational leadership, “evidence of the commitment of the Cuban State and Government to the fulfillment of the Education goals of the 2030 Agenda,” says that organization.
The aforementioned World Education Monitoring Report 2020 also highlights the achievements of the Cuban Government’s educational policies to guarantee inclusive and quality education and 100 percent preschool coverage.
When mentioning some endorsements of Cuban educational leadership in the region, a note from the Permanent Mission of Cuba to UNESCO, cited by the ACN, also mentions the inclusion of our country among the 35 nations selected to make up the Atlas on the right to education. education of girls and women, produced by Unesco as part of the “Your education, our future” initiative.
In addition to the reports and endorsements mentioned, another equally valuable argument also speaks of how Cuban education has faced these times of pandemic and is the confidence of the Cuban family that their children will never be left homeless, forgotten on one side of the path of the education.
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