Children’s Rights to Education: Relevance, Continuity and Innovations During the Pandemic

The International Online Forum "Children’s Rights to Education: Relevance, Continuity and Innovations During the Pandemic” Was Held on 19 November 2020 In Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis—it has negatively affected the health and wellbeing of dozens million people worldwide and has negatively affected social-economic development of the countries, with the resulting global recession estimated to push millions of households into poverty.

The pandemic has, as well, caused the largest disruption of education systems in history and has pushed the efforts towards realising the Sustainable Development Goal into jeopardy. By estimates of experts, children with disabilities and children from poorer households and rural areas are more likely to suffer in the process.

Education continuity during the uncertain times of COVID-19 is important as it not only provides children and young people with a sense of predictability but also plays a critical role in protecting public health, ensuring the safe work of schools in conditions of the pandemic and continuity of learning and promoting mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. The governments all over the world tried to formulate adaptive, coherent, effective and equitable education responses to the current crisis to address the challenges that so many children face, including the most marginalised.

Globally, the immediate or short-term strategies adopted by many states included education continuity through distant learning and promotion of health and hygiene habits among children.

Comprehensive support to families, women and children, as well as protecting and safeguarding their rights are a priority direction of state social policy in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The implementation of effective measures in these areas has become even more relevant and has intensified during the global coronavirus crisis.

The large-scale reforms under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev are primarily aimed at creating the enabling legal, social and economic conditions for realising human potential and capabilities in the modern world. 

On 19 November 2020, the Zamin International Public Foundation, the United Nations Office and UNICEF Country Office in Uzbekistan jointly organised an international web forum on "Children’s Rights to Education: Relevance, Continuity and Innovations during the Pandemic” to discuss the challenges faced in the education sector in the context of the pandemic and the relevance and opportunities for introducing innovative alternative education pathways. 

 The forum was attended by the senior UN officials, representatives of international and regional organisations, government agencies, national human rights institutions, the diplomatic corps, civil society institutions and academic and pedagogic circles.

The forum addressed the following issues of:

  • Improving the living conditions of children.
  • Upbringing healthy and harmoniously developed generation.
  • Ensuring continuous education, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Introducing the innovations to social sphere

 

The participants of the International Web Forum stressed the important role of international organisations, national governments and civil society organisations in protecting and implementing the legal rights, freedoms and interests of children. The forum was concluded with an agreement to strengthen global cooperation in the field of education to provide effective political, financial and technical support to needy countries based on their needs and requests, as well as an agreement to hold an international forum on the rights of the child on a regular basis.

In the end of the event the Resolution of the International Online Forum "Children’s Rights to Education: Relevance, Continuity and Innovations during the Pandemic” was adopted.