Opinion
Impact of pandemic on right to education
Dr Laksiri Fernando
The World University Service (WUS) initially planned to celebrate its 100th anniversary in Vienna on 14-16 May 2020. The theme of the world conference was ‘Human Right to Quality Education for All,’ promoting the sustainable development goals on education, SDG 4.
Due to the pandemic, however, it had to be postponed and it is now scheduled to be held on 21-23 September 2021. Because of the pandemic, not only the conference but its theme is also affected. There are new challenges to the right to education because of the pandemic and new thinking also might be necessary to carry forward the intended primary goals of the WUS’ attempts on the subject.
Basic Facts
Nearly 875 million school population, and over 200 million university population are affected by the pandemic. Students, school teachers, and academics, are included in these figures. This is nearly 15% of the world population and in terms of education, career opportunities, and knowledge production and research this is devastating. Of course, the whole of the world population is affected by the Covid pandemic. But the above facts and figures are highlighted, given we are here focusing on education and the impact of Covid pandemic on the right to quality education.
When a right is normally violated or even infringed, there are culprits, or violators who are responsible. But in this case, it is difficult to pinpoint a violator, except in terms of who have aggravated or neglected the situation. Therefore, the Covid impact on education appears a common predicament, nevertheless exposing many underlying defects in the world education system or systems that this article would focus on.
Underlying Defects
What are these underlying defects? Inequality, lack of opportunity and discrimination are the most important causes even before the eruption of the pandemic. These three causes are interlinked although for the sake of simplicity or even otherwise they can be separated.
Inequality (1) between rich and poor countries, (2) between urban and rural (or remote) areas within countries, and (3) between rich and poor students/families are some of the features. In terms of schooling, 850 million children, equal to those who are in school, are always out of school for these and other reasons. This is even before the pandemic, and the situation has now worsened because the poor countries, poor areas and poor people have newly faced enormous difficulties. A new distinction is between ‘rich online’ and ‘poor online’ or ‘absence of online’
When parents are poor and also uneducated (or less-educated) for the same reason, the motivation to send children to school is low.UNICEF estimates roughly 160 million children are in child-labour or illicit employment due to various reasons. This is about neglect and exploitation. Even if some parents are motivated to send children to school, and even if school education is free and fair, there are certain amenities that the parents might not be in a position to afford. These are lack of opportunities from the demand side; no opportunity to claim even the right to education.
The lack of opportunities also come from the supply side, or the side of the governments or States. Some States might not give priority to education. (1) In conflict ridden countries, higher amounts of money, double or treble, are spent on defence or on military. This is unfortunate to say the least. (2) The neglect of public education also come from other sources of public policy. Privatisation of education is one. When it is done, the rich people might benefit, but not the poor or the marginalised. (3) The poverty of supply side of education also can be a vicious cycle. When inadequate money is spent on public education, the quality of education is inevitably poor. When the teachers are recruited from the same system, their inputs into the learning processes are also poor.
Most regrettable is discrimination in education. Discrimination in education (even if you are in school or university) can come from ethnic, racial, religious, indigenous, class or gender basis. Most widespread discrimination in some regions is based on gender. Women are discriminated either on religious interpretations or cultural basis. All these religious or cultural interpretations are given by men! All these are difficult to unravel because of political reasons. Men dominate politics. During the pandemic, these interpretations have become strengthened on easy excuses.
Different Effects of the Pandemic
One of the most direct effects of the pandemic on education is the closure of schools and universities. It is a disaster. On school closures, UNESCO has collected data and UNICEF has compiled a substantial report.i On university closures, the International Association of Universities (IAU) has collected information through a survey. ii
What are the key findings on school closures? (1) During one year between March 2020 and February 2021, schools in the whole world have been fully closed for 95 days and this means half the time intended for teaching and learning. (2) Countries in South America were the most affected with 158 days of full school closures, followed by countries in South Asia with 146 days. Countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region were the third most affected with an average of 101 days. All these means the poor and developing countries. (3) Worldwide, 214 million students have lost three fourths of school hours in 23 countries. Among these students, 168 million had missed all classroom hours in 14 countries due to school closures.
What are the key findings on university closures? IAU survey was conducted during March and April 2020 covering 109 countries. Almost all countries reported that they have been impacted by the pandemic and 59 percent of them replied that all campuses were closed at that time. In the case of Africa, closures reported were high as 77 percent. The main concern of 80 percent of responding institutions was on the impact on student enrollment in the new academic year. 46 percent believed impact would be on both local and international students. Private universities were more concerned about the impact on financial consequences.
In terms of research, 80 percent of higher educational institutions have been directly impacted. The most common impact has been the cancellation of international travel (83 percent) and the cancellation or postponement of scientific conferences (81 percent). This is what happened even to the WUS conference although it is not directly a higher education institute or a research forum. Even at present, scientific projects are at risk of not being able to complete on time at various institutes and by individuals.
It is true that the pandemic, as a positive challenge, has opened up new research on Covid-19 and other diseases. However, without being limited to medical and pharmaceutical research, social impacts of the pandemic also should be investigated and researched. Apart from valid restrictions on travel that has affected international cooperation and research travel, there has emerged unnecessary bureaucratic barriers in some countries.
For example, to participate at the WUS conference in Vienna, over a dozen of Sri Lankan academics have received funding from the Austrian ministries/universities. But for nearly two months now their leave, approvals and exist permits have been delayed unnecessarily. This appears infringing on academic freedom and educational benefits to the country. This is unfortunate.
Expansion of eLearning
Of course everything is not hopeless. Facing the Covid challenge the world has positively shifted to more and more eLearning. This trend has been there even before but not in this scale. This is easy in the university sector, but not so much in the school sector. This is easy in rich countries, but not in poor or developing countries.
According to the UNICEF report, schoolchildren in the countries with the longest duration of school closures are the ones who have had the lowest opportunity for fixed online connections. Although the radio or TV must have been used in these countries, these are not that effective as internet or zoom teaching. Interactive learning is something lost in these media.
The repercussions of school closures can be diverse and long standing. Through eLearning alone these cannot be rectified. Schools are important not only for children’s learning, but also for health, safety and well-being. Most vulnerable children in some countries have lost their single most nutritional meal a day. For children coming from dysfunctional (or violent) families, schools are also a safe and a pleasing place. In many countries schools also play a major role in immunisation and health support.
Even in the university sector, the (quick) adoption of eLearning has not been easy. Although two-thirds of them had reported that they have replaced classroom teaching with distance teaching and learning, they reported that it has not come without challenges. The main challenges being access to technical infrastructure, competencies of both teachers and students to adopt them, and pedagogical impact on some specific fields of study. However in the medium term or in the long-run, eLearning can be an escape route from future pandemics, lockdowns or travel restrictions.
Facing the Challenge
The challenge for the university sector and academics is not limited to the pandemic or themselves alone. Without uplifting the school sector, the university sector cannot thrive or survive. Without addressing the education problems in poor countries, education in rich countries cannot prosper. This is also a moral obligation. This was a main message of the UNDP initiated sustainable goals, SDG 4. Now there is a clear setback for these goals because of the pandemic, initially to be achieved by 2030.
In answering the pandemic question, university academics or the World University Service should stand for full vaccination of all sections and particularly the school students, children of that age, university students and teachers and administrators in schools and universities. Vaccine hesitancy should be overcome and a booster might be necessary.
Universities in all countries should reach the broader communities and extend education, assistance and relief. They should have the academic freedom to do so. There can be risks involved. But this is a duty. If the vaccination programmes are expedited and covered all countries, rich and poor, schools can be reopened fully soon or by 2022. There can be many mitigating and catchup measures that needs to be implemented in terms of learning and other ways. There can also be a necessity to develop and introduce new modalities in education. Blended or hybrid methods might be more appropriate. This is applicable to both schools and universities. University academics and academic cooperation between countries might be able to play a major role in this sphere.
There can be gaps that might emerge compared to the past. Truly estimating them and innovating devices to optimise the existing resources, while seeking necessary resources to bridge those gaps through international cooperation between governments, ministries of education and universities can be some tasks. Academics can take a lead. The main public policy advocacy of this article is for the universities and academics to get involved in school education more than before, and bring benefits to the society.
All the print and electronic media report that a huge branch of a large tree has fallen on a school in Balangoda, killing a 17-year-old student and causing severe injuries to 16 students.A mother of a student whose son is studying with the victim, giving a voice cut to the media disclosed in a heart-rending story that the repeated reminders on this hazardous threat made to the Principal and the Regional Education Office for the last five years have not been heeded to until this tragedy claimed the life of an innocent student.
This is not the first time that students have perished in the school premises. A sixth-grade student died when a discarded iron pipe of a soccer goal post fell on his body at Thopawewa Maha Vidyalaya, Polonnaruwa. Senith Wijesinghe, a bright student at Ananda College, Colombo, perished on the spot when the turf roller fell on his body. Another student at Wellampitiya Maha Vidyalaya met his untimely death when a part of the parapet wall connected to the water pipeline fell on his body. Another unfortunate death of a student was reported from the south when a Hume pipe brought for road development work rolled out accidently killing a student in the school premises.
A careful analysis of the statistics of fatal and grave accidents to students disclose a shocking revelation. According to NHSL, 2,691 schoolchildren have been treated, out of which 274 were related to accidents in the school premises. Health Ministry sources say that 10,000 to 20,000 students are being treated for accidents annually.
Educational authorities should bear in mind that parents send their children to school on the basic premise that the school provides an accident free safety environment to their children. School Principals as well as the Regional/Zonal Education Directors have an inalienable duty to provide this basic protection to the students, leave aside the education. What the Education Ministry and the Department should do is not to resort to knee-jerk reaction when a fatal accident occurs and issue precautionary guidelines. Their hunky-dory attitude does not bode well for the wellbeing of the student community. What is required is a well-planned institutional strategy to face this calamitous situation.
My recollection says that the Ministry of Education had issued directions by way of circular instructions to the Zonal Education Directors to visit schools periodically and identify the hazardous situations and unsafe structures and trees with a view to taking on the spot remedial measures. If the authorities heeded such directives, the life of a Balangoda student could have been thwarted.
This short note would not be complete if it does not cover the numerous safety hazards frequently confronted by the student community in a school setting. In laboratories where students are called upon to deal hazardous chemicals. They should not be mixed together and stored separately. Students should handle chemicals under the direct supervision of the teachers. Unsafe and unregulated pits and trenches should be identified and barricaded with tiger tapes immediately with prominent wordings and luminous colors. Unsafe old structures such as old buildings, rusted iron structures, unsafe roofs and materials, heavy rollers should be identified and they should be immediately discarded/dismantled before such structures cause any harm to the students.
During sports activities- dehydration and heart related injuries should be prevented by proper re-hydration and avoiding vigorous outdoor practices in hot sun during hot periods of the year. In this country, school athletic meets and big matches are held in the month of February and March during which period, heat temperament is relatively unbearable. For long distance running, medical certificates from a medical doctor should be mandatory.
School principals are the custodian of the children’s safety and a competent safety team should be formed to avoid unsafe accidents with the collective support of the teachers and school prefects. The creation of a safety conscience and culture should be inculcated across the board. When questioned by a Principal of a leading girl’s school in Nugegoda, she was very complacent about the safety arrangements of the school by delegating this function to a lady PTI instructor, which is most unsatisfactory. The Principal or the Vice Principal should personally and directly take over this prime responsibility. It is utmost paramount to analyse everything from a safety eye and the PTI is woefully lacking this trait.
Last but not least, I could render my support to the Prime Minister who is in charge of the Education to create a hazard free safety environment in the schools with the expertise I have obtained locally and globally for over five decades voluntarily. What I emphasise for the hazard-free school environment is that the safety aspect should be institutionalised within the main system of education. It would be a desirable step to establish a safety branch in each Zonal Education Zone, considering the adverse trend of tragic accidents. Essentially the present adverse trend of accidents in schools has to be arrested as a utmost priority.
It is much regretted that my comprehensive article published in a leading newspaper have not had the desired effect for the last six months.
J. A. A. S. Ranasinghe
Productivity Specialist and Management Consultant
(The writer can be contacted a49@gmail.com)
If any material has a commercial value people will be motivated to collect, and sell it in return for some additional income. From this perspective, even cow-dung when presented in the form of suitable fertilizer for agriculture can be a good source of income for the owners of livestock farms. When concerned about the present-day economic hardships many people in the low-income range are badly in need of money for their day today struggling for a living while facing an atmosphere of skyrocketing cost of living. Hence, the duty of the state and the media is to enlighten and educate the public about the available avenues and encourage them to engage in the business of the waste recycling industry.
At present there is a lack of information or frequent publicity about any collecting centers that accept and pay for polythene and plastic wastes. Therefore, the public are not interested in collecting them. As a result, tons and tons of plastic and polythene wastes are dumped, burned or thrown into waterways. It has become a widespread menace that wherever and whenever a mass gathering such as a procession, political rally, musical show, protest march, demonstration, a get together party is held, tons of waste, particularly, polythene and plastic items scattered in heaps on roadsides are an ugly sight to see. For example, Annual events like the Sri pada pilgrimage, numerous religious processions countrywide, new year celebration sites, sports meet, hotels and reception hall-based events etc. during the last tooth relic exhibition period in Kandy too, piles of waste were left to the annoyance of the municipal authorities. This is an everlasting environmental disaster which causes further and further degradation and destruction to the entire country.
In a recent news item, I happened to notice an entrepreneur, Sulalitha Perera from Bandaragama, is becoming successful in a polythene recycling scheme. He has expressed that he hopes to expand his business in all districts if he gets help from the government and other stakeholders. This is, indeed, a praiseworthy effort which should be encouraged and assisted by all concerned authorities, mainly by the ministry of environmental affairs. The media particularly the television and social media like YouTube must highlight the value of such environment friendly businesses which protect the environment, bring in forex to the economy, and provide employment opportunities to the community.
In this regard, the main responsibility of all media particularly the electronic media (specially TV+ you tube) is to glorify the recycling industry by creating new dramatic episodes and new songs encompassing the environment cleanliness and benefits of recycling industries as well as to encourage the communities to collect and sell all polythene and plastic products to the collecting centers to earn an additional income instead of throwing or burning them in the neighborhood. For anybody, rich or poor, it is no shame to take back the collection of polythene and plastic that gathers in one’s homestead to the place where one purchases daily needs. A certain amount of deduction of the costs by the trader in lieu of the returned waste material is also profitable for the customer. This is the greatest contribution that all of us can make to sustain a Clean Sri Lanka.
Madduma Bandara Navarathne Embilipitiya
The Middle East is undergoing a realignment of power. With Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear sites and the assassination of at least two of Iran’s senior security officials, Benjamin Netanyahu is showing his willingness to go it alone and ignore pressure from the Trump administration. Though Donald Trump sought diplomatic solutions to the growing tensions between Israel and Iran, it appears that the US president, despite his previously strong relationship with the Israeli leader, was unable to restrain Netanyahu. The timing of the strikes is important.
The Trump administration probably knew that they could not prevent Israel from striking Iran, but they did think they could pressure Israel to hold off launching an attack until after the US had solidified a new nuclear deal with Iran, talks for which were scheduled for June 15. Just hours before the air strikes, Trump said: “As long as I think there will be an agreement [with Iran], I don’t want them going in.” Experts had been divided in the past, over how much leverage the US held over Israel. Trump, following months of groundwork laid by the Joe Biden administration, managed to secure a ceasefire deal with Israel in January. But as part of the negotiation, Netanyahu succeeded in reversing sanctions on settlers in the West Bank, giving him free rein to act there.
Additionally, the US also lifted its freeze on the transfer of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, another concession that benefited Israel. The US also proved unwilling or incapable of stopping the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Gaza. Washington also appeared powerless to stop Israel’s pounding of Lebanon and its efforts to eradicate the Iranbacked militia Hezbollah. The US has become more of a spectator than a powerful regional actor. And sources suggest that Washington was not informed in advance of Israel’s airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in October 2024, a sign of Israel’s growing willingness to act without US approval.
Indeed, the expansion of the war in Gaza to Lebanon was a pivotal moment in the region. With significant Israeli public support to stop Hezbollah (which had been launching rockets towards northern Israel), Israel pounded southern Beirut with airstrikes, killing several high-ranking Hezbollah officials. In the aftermath, Hezbollah was unable to replenish itself with younger recruits (it had relied on its charismatic leadership to recruit in the past), and the losses caused Hezbollah’s organisation to implode. By November 2024, Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the US.
Hezbollah’s near military and organisational collapse has been a big blow for Iran’s regional power. Hezbollah was at one point the most heavily armed violent non-state actor in the world. It had an army of around 50,000 men and experts speculated that it had as many as 200,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges in its arsenal. With the assassination of so many high-level officials in Hezbollah and Hamas, both of which Iran has bankrolled and used in its proxy conflicts with Israel, Iran has been severely weakened. As Iran is in the middle of an economic crisis, it no longer has the financial means to revive these traditional allies.
For decades Iran had tried to gain strategic depth in the Middle East, with the US estimating that Iran spent more than US$16 billion to prop up Bashar al-Assad in Syria from 2012 to 2020. Additionally, with the fall of Assad, Syria can no longer serve as a transit corridor or logistical hub for shipments of arms from Iran to Hezbollah. With Turkey’s support for the various armed militias that ousted the Assad regime, it is Ankara, and not Tehran, that sees itself as the big winner in the aftermath of the Syrian civil war. The US, meanwhile, is seeing its influence in the Middle East waning. And Trump’s plan for extending trade in the region, particularly in the Gulf, may also be undermined by the rising regional tension.
The US had been due to send Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to this weekend’s talks in Oman, with the aim of getting Tehran to agree to stop enriching uranium (which is crucial for creating nuclear weapons) in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. Trump had said that he did not want Israel to go ahead with its attack on Iran, and yet these calls went unheeded. Some US officials were optimistic that the escalating tensions taking place between Iran and Israel were mere tactics of negotiation amid the important nuclear talks. However, though the US was clearly warned about the attack, Washington was not able to deter Israel. Though the US still supplies Israel with US$3.8 billion worth of arms per year, it has had little success in exercising much leverage recently.
It remains to be seen if domestic political pressure could halt this US funding. International relations experts should not be surprised that Israel went on the offensive in Iran. Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in 2024 were just a precursor to the bigger prize of bringing Iran to its knees. For Netanyahu, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East and shift the regional power dynamics, and he appears to care little about what the US, or the rest of the world, thinks of how he does it.
(The writer is Professor of Government, University of Essex. This article was published on www.theconversation.com)
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