Global Education Monitoring Report 2020

The 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report was released by UNESCO recently.

Key highlights of the report

• The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in education systems across the world. According to the report, about 40% of low- and lower-middle-income countries have not supported learners at risk of exclusion during this crisis, such as the poor, linguistic minorities, and learners with disabilities.
• The report also noted that efforts to maintain learning continuity during the pandemic might have worsened exclusion trends.
• During the height of school closures in April 2020, almost 91% of students around the world were out of school.

Imperfect substitutes

• According to report the education systems during the pandemic responded with distance learning solutions, all of which offered less or more imperfect substitutes for classroom instruction.
• While many poorer countries opted for radio and television lessons, 55% of low-income, 73% of lower-middle-income and 93% of upper-middle-income countries adopted for online learning platforms for primary and secondary education.
• India has used a mix of all three systems for educational continuity.
• However, even as governments increasingly rely on technology, the digital divide lays bare the limitations of this approach.
• Not all students and teachers have access to an adequate internet connection, equipment, skills and working conditions to take advantage of available platforms.

Unavailability of the resources outside

• School closures due to lockdowns have also interrupted support mechanisms from which many disadvantaged learners’ benefit.
• Resources for blind and deaf students may not be available outside schools.
• Also, children with learning disabilities or those who are on the autism spectrum may struggle with independent work in front of a computer or the disruption of daily school routines.
• For poor students who depend on school for free meals or even free sanitary napkins, these closures have been a significant blow.

Other problems

• The cancellation of examinations in many countries, including India, may result in scoring dependent on teachers’ judgments which could be affected by stereotypes of certain types of students.

UPSC