HORIZON CAMPUS - B.

Ed / CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EDUCATION

Batch No. 6 & 7 : Lesson No. 5 - : Current issues and best practices
in achieving EFA goals in Education.

1.0 Introduction:

EFA goals in Education guide all the nations to develop learning among the
children in ECCE, Primary and Secondary stages. Also it helps to upgrade education
among the youths and the adults. But it is difficult to achieve EFA goals on expected
standards to improve relevance in learning. Therefore B.Ed students need to explore
current issues and best practices in achieving EFA goals in the global society. How
current issues specially COVID 19 impact child learning?

What are the best practices in different countries in achieving EFA goals ? What are
the good ideas that we can get for our children in Pre Primary , Primary and Secondary
stages? How to maintain quality of education and ensure excellence of all specially in
Literacy, Numeracy and Essential life skills.?

B.Ed students are expected to collect more information about COVID 19 and global
issues in education. In addition to that they need to improve thinking skills and creative
skills to write articles on different topics by giving good suggestions.

2.0 Learning outcomes :

. i Explores relevance in learning of ECCE, Primary and secondary education in

achieving EFA goals

ii Discusses EFA monitoring reports and sensitizes towards current global issues.

iii Suggests effective strategies to improve learning among the children in ECCE,
Primary and Secondary stages.

iv Accepts the need of achieving EFA goals by using effective strategies.

3.0 How to overcome current issues to enhance quality of learning :

According to EFA goals all children need to learn. Therefore we need to think about
most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Early Childhood stage. All the children
belonging to ethnic minorities have to access to and complete free and compulsory
Primary education. It has been identified the need of eliminating gender disparities in
Primary and Secondary education and achieving gender equality in Education. Improving
all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all specially in
Literacy, Numeracy and Essential life skills can be considered most important EFA goal
for Primary and Secondary education. How COVID 19 impact child learning?

 Learn to know
 Learn to think.
 Learn to live together
 Learn to be.

Survey on COVID-19 and Early Childhood Education Workforce.

UNITED NATIONS. Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on children, 15 APRIL 2020

Children are not the face of this pandemic. But they risk being among its biggest victims.
While on Early childhood they have thankfully been largely spared from the direct health
effects of COVID-19 - at least to date – the crisis is having a profound effect on their wellbeing.
All children, of all ages, and in all countries, are being affected, in particular by the socio-
economic impacts and, in some cases, by mitigation measures that may inadvertently do more
harm than good.

This is a universal crisis and, for some children, the impact will be lifelong. Moreover, the
harmful effects of this pandemic will not be distributed equally. They are expected to be most
damaging for children in the poorest countries, and in the poorest neighborhoods, and for those
in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations.

188 countries have imposed countrywide school closures, affecting more than 1.5 billion
children and youth. The potential losses that may accrue in learning for today’s young
generation, and for the development of their human capital. More than two-thirds of countries
have introduced a national distance learning platform, but among low-income countries the share
is only 30 percent. Before this crisis, almost one third of the world’s young people were already
digitally excluded.

Economic hardship experienced by families as a result of the global economic downturn

could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020, reversing the last 2 to 3
years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year. And this alarming figure does
not even take into account services disrupted due to the crisis – it only reflects the current
relationship between economies and mortality, so is likely an under-estimate of the impact.
Rising Prioritize the continuity of child-centred services, with a particular focus on equity of
access – particularly in relation to schooling, nutrition programs, immunization and other
maternal and newborn care, and community-based child protection programs.

Provide practical support to parents and caregivers, including how to talk about the pandemic
with children, how to manage their own mental health and the mental health of their children,
and tools to help support their children’s learning.
 Lockdowns and shelter in place measures come with heightened risk of children witnessing or
suffering violence and abuse. Children in conflict settings, as well as those living in unsanitary
and crowded conditions such as refugee and IDP settlements, are also at considerable risk.
Children’s reliance on online platforms for distance learning has also increased their risk of
exposure to inappropriate content and online predators.

This policy brief provides a deeper analysis of these effects. It identifies also a series of
immediate and sustained actions for the attention to the following three priorities:

• Rebalance the combination of interventions to minimize the impact of standard physical

distancing and lockdown strategies on children in low-income countries and communities and
expand social protection programs to reach the most vulnerable children

. • Prioritize the continuity of child-centred services, with a particular focus on equity of access –
particularly in relation to schooling, nutrition programs, immunization and other maternal and
newborn care, and community-based child protection programs.

. • Provide practical support to parents and caregivers, including how to talk about the pandemic
with children, how to manage their own mental health and the mental health of their children,
and tools to help support their children’s learning. For each of the above, specific protections
must be put in place for vulnerable children including refugees, the displaced, homeless,
migrants, minorities, slum-dwellers, children living with disabilities, street children, living in
refugee settlements, and children in institutions.

Activity- 1 :

1. How COVID 19 impact child learning?

2. What are the ideas that you can get from this survey to improve learning
among the children ?

3. Suggest effective strategies to achieve EFA goal -1 through the findings of this
survey.

4. Observe five children of ECCE and write a report to improve their learning
through effective strategies.

5. Prepare a project plan to improve learning among the children in Early

childhood stage in Sri Lanka.
Activity- 2 :

1. Read the following report of UNICEF.

2. What are the best practices that used by Ukraine to overcome challenges of
COVID 19.

3. Analyze approaches of Rwanda and compare the strategies with Ukraine.

4. Write a report on :

“ Overcoming challenges of COVID 19 and improving all aspects of the

quality of Education and ensuring excellence of All specially in Literacy,
Numeracy and essential Life skills in Sri Lanka.”

4.0 UNICEF for every child- 2020 , Keeping the world’s children learning
through COVID-19

When educational facilities across Ukraine closed in March to help contain COVID-
19, many families found themselves struggling to keep their children’s education on
track.

Since the school closures, UNICEF has been supporting the Ministry of Education and
Science with distance learning options for students to ensure continuity and help
parents, caregivers and teachers access remote education resources and support during
quarantine.

Ukraine is also one of the first countries since the COVID-19 pandemic to roll out its
online curriculum through, a global learning platform launched by UNICEF and
Microsoft to help children and youth affected by COVID-19 continue their education
at home.

More than 3 million students are out of school in Rwanda since the government
recommended schools close to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. To keep
children learning, the country has turned to one of its most accessible mediums: radio.
UNICEF identified more than 100 radio scripts from around the world focusing on
basic literacy and numeracy that could be adapted to align with Rwanda’s school
curriculum. Literacy and numeracy that could be adapted to align with Rwanda’s
school curriculum. It then worked with partners, including the Rwanda Broadcasting
Agency, to produce and air the classes around the country.
 With around 1.6 billion children unable to attend school in person, UNICEF is finding
ways to keep them learning at home.Jason Miks and John McIlwaineraine - Ukraine

UNICEF/UNI321764/FilippovZlata, 7, studies at her home in Kyiv, Ukraine. Her favourite

subject is art, and she enjoys drawing cats and pandas.
Rwanda
Timor-LesteTimor-Leste

UNICEF/UNI320751/SoaresA girl holds up a phone displaying an online learning platform

providing a range of audio-visual material to help students continue learning during COVID-19-
related school closures.