This report presents information collected in the scope of the Lusophone Network for the Right to Education (ReLus) on the situation of guaranteeing the right to education during the moment of emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is launched as part of the Brazilian Action Week for Education 2021 and intends to present a comparative exploratory study on the challenges faced in the context of different Portuguese-speaking countries and the emergency policies adopted.
Le 29 octobre 2021, le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, composé de 15 membres, a adopté une résolution unanime, saluée comme la première du genre, qui condamne les attaques contre les écoles, les enfants et les enseignants et exhorte les parties en conflit à protéger immédiatement le droit à l'éducation. Il est important de noter que la résolution rend explicites les liens entre l'éducation, la paix et la sécurité.
On 29 October 2021, the 15-member UN Security council adopted a unanimous resolution, hailed as the first of its kind, which condemns attacks against schools, children and teachers and urges conflict parties to immediately safeguard the right to education. Importantly, the resolution makes explicit the links between education, peace and security.
One of the most serious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the disruption of children’s education worldwide with the closure of schools for public health reasons. Projections from UNESCO Institute for Statistics show that nearly 100 million children across eight age cohorts would move below the minimum proficiency threshold in reading in 2020 due to the pandemic (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2021). Both current studies and experience of school closures due to previous similar crises, such as the Ebola epidemic, show that COVID-19 closures risk exacerbating vulnerabilities for those who are already disadvantaged (Azevedo et al., 2021). This includes lack of access to the vital nutrition provided by school nutrition programs (Borkowski et al., 2021); exposure to violence at home; early marriages and pregnancies for girl children (De Paz et al., 2020); lack of social interaction (Larsen et al., 2021); and deepening inequalities for those without access to the Internet (United Nations Children’s Fund & International Telecommunication Union, 2020).
Les efforts, pour assurer une éducation inclusive et de qualité pour toutes et tous, ont suscité des appels en faveur d’un engagement plus important du secteur privé, affirmant que les entreprises et les fondations peuvent jouer un rôle important en tant que partenaires dans la réalisation de l’Objectif de Développement Durable n° 4 (ODD 4).
Ces dernières années, compte tenu de l’insuffisance des financements publics et de la nécessité d’intervenir en urgence, les acteurs privés se sont de plus en plus impliqués dans divers aspects des programmes éducatifs, pour l’éducation dans les situations d’urgence (ESU). Toutefois, cet arrangement peut engendrer des tensions entre l’engagement du secteur privé et la réponse humanitaire dans le domaine de l’éducation, ce qui doit être pris en compte et nécessite à son tour une coordination, un plaidoyer et une attention supplémentaires. Ce document explore certaines des tensions et fait des recommandations, pour soutenir la priorisation d’une éducation publique sûre, équitable et de qualité, pour tous les enfants et les jeunes touchés par des crises.
L’INEE soutient le droit à l’éducation de chaque jeune, et reconnaît l’État comme principal responsable de la scolarisation, conformément aux déclarations, cadres et instruments juridiques internationaux, qui affirment et protègent le droit à l’éducation (voir encadré sur les instruments juridiques, qui protègent le droit à l’éducation).
Las iniciativas que buscan garantizar una educación inclusiva y equitativa para todos han generado peticiones para una mayor involucramiento del sector privado, afirmando que las empresas y las fundaciones pueden jugar un papel importante como socios para alcanzar el Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 4 (ODS4).
En los últimos años, debido a la falta de financiamiento público y a la necesidad de respuestas urgentes, ha crecido la participación del sector privado en diversos aspectos de la programación educativa para la educación en situaciones de emergencia (EeE). Esta forma de trabajar, sin embargo, puede causar tensiones entre la participación del sector privado y la respuesta humanitaria en materia de educación. Es necesario resolver estas tensiones, lo cual requiere una mayor coordinación, abogacía y atención. Este informe explora algunas de estas tensiones y ofrece recomendaciones para apoyar la priorización de una educación pública segura, equitativa y de calidad para todos los niños, niñas y jóvenes afectados por crisis.
La INEE apoya el derecho que tienen todas las personas jóvenes a la educación y reconoce al Estado como el principal responsable de la escolarización, en línea con declaraciones, marcos e instrumentos legales internacionales que reconocen y protegen el derecho a la educación (véase el recuadro sobre los instrumentos legales que protegen el derecho a la educación).
Efforts to secure inclusive and equitable education for all have prompted calls for greater engagement by the private sector, asserting that businesses and foundations can play significant roles as partners in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).
In recent years, given shortfalls in public financing and the need for urgent responses, private actors have increasingly become involved in various aspects of educational programming for education in emergencies (EiE). The arrangement, however, can produce tensions between private engagement and humanitarian response in education, which needs to be addressed and in turn requires extra coordination, advocacy and attention. This brief explores some of these tensions and makes recommendations to support the prioritization of safe, equitable, and quality public education for all children and young people affected by crises.
INEE supports every young person’s right to education and recognizes the State as the primary duty-bearer of schooling, in alignment with international declarations, frameworks, and legal instruments that assert and protect the right to education
دفعت الجهود الرامية إلى تأمين التعليم الشامل والعادل للجميع إلى دعوات للمزيد من المشاركة من جانب القطاع الخاص ، والتأكيد على أن الشركات والمؤسسات قادرة على لعب أدوار كبيرة كشركاء في تحقيق الهدف الرابع من أهداف التنمية المستدامة.
في السنوات الأخيرة، وفي ضوء النقص في التمويل العام والحاجة إلى استجابات عاجلة، أصبحت الجهات الفاعلة الخاصة تشارك بشكل متزايد في مختلف جوانب البرمجة التعليمية من أجل التعليم في حالات الطوارئ. غير أن هذه التدابير يمكن أن تؤدي إلى حدوث توتر بين مشاركة القطاع الخاص والاستجابة الإنسانية في مجال التعليم، الأمر الذي يحتاج إلى معالجة ويتطلب بدوره مزيدًا من التنسيق والمناصرة والاهتمام. ويستكشف هذا الموجز بعض هذا التوتر ويقدم توصيات لدعم الأولوية للتعليم العام الآمن والمنصف والجيد لجميع الأطفال والشباب المتضررين من الأزمات.
تدعم الشبكة المشتركة لوكالات التعليم في حالات الطوارئ حق كل شاب في التعليم وتعترف بأن الدولة هي الجهة الرئيسية المسؤولة عن التعليم، تمشياً مع الإعلانات والأطر والمواثيق القانونية الدولية التي تؤكد الحق في التعليم وتحميه (انظر الإطار حول المواثيق القانونية التي تحمي الحق في التعليم).
Around the world, higher education communities are overwhelmed by frequent attacks on scholars, students, staff, and their institutions. State and non-state actors, including armed militant and extremist groups, police and military forces, government authorities, off-campus groups, and even members of higher education communities, among others, carry out these attacks, which often result in deaths, injuries, and deprivations of liberty. Beyond their harm to the individuals and institutions directly targeted, these attacks undermine entire higher education systems, by impairing the quality of teaching, research, and discourse on campus and constricting society’s space to think, question, and share ideas. Ultimately, they impact all of us, by damaging higher education’s unique capacity to drive the social, political, cultural, and economic development from which we all benefit.
Through its Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, Scholars at Risk (SAR) responds to these attacks by identifying and tracking key incidents, with the aim of protecting vulnerable individuals, raising awareness, encouraging accountability, and promoting dialogue and understanding that can help prevent future threats. Since 2015, SAR has been publishing Free to Think, a series of annual reports analyzing attacks on higher education communities around the world.
Free to Think 2021 documents 332 attacks on higher education communities in 65 countries and territories. This year was marked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than five million lives. For higher education, the pandemic continued to disrupt academic activity, keeping many institutions in remote states of operation and suspending most academic travel. For scholars and students, the pandemic also continued to raise questions, concerns, and criticisms about state responses to public health crises, government accountability, and societal inequities. Scholars and students took on these issues in the classroom and more public venues, in-person and online, asserting their academic freedom and their rights to freedoms of expression and assembly. They also responded to acute and more long-standing political conflicts, from Myanmar’s coup to the steady erosion of human rights in Turkey, demanding civilian led government and the protection of fundamental freedoms. Frequently, however, individuals and groups opposed to their questions and ideas sought to silence them.
Changes in the media market after the end of the cold war, the development of new technologies and the hindering consequences of multiple economic crises have strengthened collaboration between journalists, photographers, videographers, and NGOs. Media reporting on conflict zones can play an enhanced role in helping civil society organisations (CSOs) to document attacks on education and CSO knowledge and connections could help journalists uncover important stories from the front lines.
This brief encourages a systematic collaboration focused on collecting and sharing data that may help advance the right to education in emergency situations. It is part of a Right to Education Initiative (RTE) series of briefs designed to help civil society organisations monitor and advocate for the right to education, such as the guide on Monitoring Education Under Attack from a Human Rights Perspective.