2021 is not going to be a normal year in schools anywhere in the world. But it has to be a better year than 2020. It has to be a year of accelerated recovery. Unfortunately, there is great uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic and the speed at which we will see mass vaccinations. It is impossible then to wait for the health risk to be eliminated to resume learning for all. There is no quick return to the school routine that we knew about in the short- to medium-term. That’s why the question isn’t just when to go back to school, but it’s how to get back to learning (Saavedra, 2021).
In response, many governments in Africa quickly launched educational broadcasts via television, radio or online (UNESCO, 2021).
More children and adolescents today are enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education than ever before. Yet, for many of them, schooling does not lead to learning – and this was before COVID-19 shuttered schools and disrupted learning across the globe, creating an urgent need to reimagine education (UNICEF, n.d.).
References:
- Saavedra, J. (2021, September 7). The urgency and opportunity to return to learning. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/urgency-and-opportunity-return-learning
- UNESCO. (2021, May 28). Global Education Coalition explores the digital learning turn in Africa. https://en.unesco.org/news/global-education-coalition-explores-digital-learning-turn-africa
- UNICEF. (n.d.). Education. Retrieved July 10, 2021, from https://www.unicef.org/education
