00:03 Good morning,
00:04 good afternoon,
00:04 good evening.
00:05 Many thanks to all of you for joining this event,
00:08 remote learning
00:09 during COVID-19,
00:10 lessons from today,
00:11 principles for tomorrow.
00:13 On the occasion of World's Children's Day,
00:15 we're pleased to launch two reports focused on remote learning.
00:19 Together they highlight how countries responded,
00:22 what lessons we as a global community are learning,
00:24 and what principles we can draw on
00:26 to lay out a vision for the way forward.
00:29 I want to warmly welcome the panel of experts we have today from Brazil,
00:32 India,
00:33 Pakistan,
00:33 Uruguay,
00:34 and Sierra Leone.
00:35 Uh,
00:36 I am now in mission in Burkina Faso,
00:39 um,
00:39 but I wanted to make sure that I was together with you one way or the other.
00:44 COVID-19 has disrupted education all over the world
00:47 and affected the lives of 1.6 billion students.
00:50 As the pandemic started,
00:51 most countries saw school closures as part of the arsenal to fight the pandemic.
00:55 That,
00:56 as we know,
00:56 came as a huge cost
00:58 because nothing replaces presential learning.
01:01 But during the pandemic,
01:01 countries did their best to try to compensate.
01:04 Many countries have been implemented some form of remote remote learning,
01:08 often as an emergency response.
01:10 Some approaches were more high tech than others,
01:12 and while the goal was often to reach all students,
01:15 many countries were not able to do,
01:17 to do so.
01:18 However,
01:18 this shared adversity has accelerated our collective knowledge
01:23 on how to set up
01:24 and deliver remote education at scale.
01:27 The string reports uh that we're launching today analyze how this crisis
01:32 has amplified inequalities and also documents uh they
01:35 they document a unique opportunity to reimagine learning
01:39 as we start to build back more resilient education systems.
01:43 This pandemic has left several lessons.
01:47 Let me emphasize this through 5
01:49 that stand out from this research.
01:51 First,
01:52 technology for remote learning comes in many forms,
01:55 from take-home paper packets to phone calls to online systems.
01:59 Yet the availability of technology is a necessary but
02:02 not sufficient condition for remote learning to be effective.
02:06 Effectiveness requires an alignment between technology,
02:09 teachers and students.
02:10 Otherwise,
02:11 the risk is that technology might end up being an an equalizing factor
02:15 despite having the potential to be a great equalizer.
02:19 Second,
02:20 effective teachers are more critical than ever.
02:23 To help them deliver,
02:24 we need to reimagine pre-service
02:26 and in-service teacher professional development,
02:28 and we must ensure that they have the tools
02:30 for implementing an effective digital pedagogy in addition to
02:34 tools for in-person learning.
02:36 Only then can they teach effectively in both remote and in-person settings.
02:41 Third,
02:42 learning is intensive in human interaction.
02:45 And the future is actually about balancing technology with the human factor.
02:49 For remote learning to be successful,
02:51 it needs meaningful two-way interaction between students and their teachers.
02:56 At the same time,
02:56 we cannot forget that the transition
02:58 to remote learning makes such interactions even more difficult.
03:02 Even students with access to high tech need high touch,
03:06 and cognitive support needs to be enriched with emotional support.
03:10 Fourth,
03:11 parents are protagonists of the future of their children.
03:14 It is critical that public policy provides support and guidance to parents and
03:18 equip them with the tools they will need to support their children.
03:22 And finally,
03:23 all countries have a dynamic ecosystem of collaboration for learning.
03:27 This past 12 months we've seen ministries of education develop capacities
03:31 that did not previously exist.
03:33 We've seen innovative partnerships established and new forms
03:36 of education delivery deployed at unprecedented scale.
03:40 We have seen the best of our society
03:43 when different organizations collaborated
03:45 to mitigate the negative implications
03:47 of the pandemic on education.
03:50 Given what the last 20 months have taught us,
03:52 where do we go from here?
03:54 When teachers,
03:55 students,
03:55 and technology are well aligned,
03:57 remote learning has the potential to mitigate long-standing inequalities.
04:02 We must ensure that remote learning does not devolve into an exercise of
04:07 more of the same,
04:08 but with technology.
04:10 To move forward constructively,
04:12 we will need a structural change and
04:14 new capacities within and beyond the education systems
04:17 to ensure learners have equally effective experiences
04:20 in person or during remote learning.
04:23 The last 20 months have revealed a number of possibilities for reimagining
04:27 how education can be offered and enriched in the years to come.
04:30 Remote learning remains a key means of ensuring continuity of learning.
04:35 As the school systems return to increase in personal
04:38 learning and prepare for future closures if they happen.
04:42 I'm sure
04:43 that the presentations and panel discussion today will
04:45 enrich our work and help in our collective mission
04:49 to ensure learning continuity
04:50 and accelerate learning.
04:52 Although the pandemic is far from over,
04:54 we must seize this opportunity to reimagine education
04:58 in both ways.
04:59 Our children and our young people are waiting.
05:03 Thank you very much.
- add-style
- lp-body-content