Universities and restrictions for their students during the pandemic From overcrowded lecture halls in France to a ban on sleepovers in Ireland, special coronavirus apps in the UK, snitching on dorm parties in the US and shuttered campus gates in India, students face a range of experiences when – or if – universities reopen. Authorities around the world have introduced different measures to try to balance the needs of third-level education with those of public health amid an autumnal surge in Covid-19 infections. Students will encounter new rules, tensions and scrutiny in response to fears that universities and colleges will open the pandemic’s floodgates. At one extreme lies France where the government wants people back in lecture halls and tutorial rooms to bridge education inequities worsened by the crisis. Mask wearing is mandatory at all times and social distancing is encouraged but some institutions – not all – are overcrowded, with students cramming every seat and nook of lectur...

School doors around the world have been closed for several months to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this crisis, we have seen an incredible amount of large-scale efforts to use technology in support of remote learning. At the same time, this crisis has exposed the challenges for technology in education, including many inequities starting at the lack of access to computers and the internet. 1.6 billion students in 194 countries were impacted by school closures The UNESCO numbers on school closures caused by COVID-19 illustrate the pandemic’s overwhelming impact on education throughout the world. At its peak, early April 2020,  the nationwide closures of educational institutions were affecting over 91% of the global student population. In absolute numbers, this means that nearly 1,6 billion students in up to 194 countries were impacted by schools being shut down. Because of its far-reaching impact, the COVID-19 pandemic has given us massive insights into how the ...

Nearly one in four children growing up in conflict zones are missing out on education, with South Sudan, Niger, Sudan and Afghanistan the worst-affected countries, UN children's agency UNICEF says. An estimated 24 million children of school age were out of school in 22 countries affected by conflict, according to the agency's research. South Sudan has the largest proportion of children out of school, 51 per cent, followed by 47 per cent in Niger, 41 per cent in Sudan and 40 per cent in Afghanistan. "When children are not in school, they are at an increased danger of abuse, exploitation and recruitment into armed groups," UNICEF's head of education, Jo Bourne, said. "School equips children with the knowledge and skills they need to rebuild their communities once the conflict is over and, in the short-term, it provides them with the stability and structure required to cope with the trauma they have experienced." Attacks on Schools Schools and universities ...

Children living in poverty face many barriers to accessing an education. Some are obvious — like not having a school to go to — while others are more subtle, like the teacher at the school not having had the training needed to help children learn effectively. Increasing access to education can improve the overall health and longevity of a society, grow economies, and even combat climate change. Yet in many developing countries, children’s access to education can be limited by numerous factors. Language barriers, gender roles, and reliance on child labor can all stall progress to provide quality education. The world’s most vulnerable children from disadvantaged communities, including young girls and children with disabilities, are more likely to miss out on school. Here are 10 of the greatest challenges in global education that the world needs to take action on right now to achieve Global Goal 4: Quality Education by 2030.  1. A lack of funding for education Developing countries can...

T he global impact of Coronavirus is immense as educational institutes all over the world – from Harvard to the IITs – are closed. Covid-19 has thrown education all over the world in a loop. Here are the major problems. Schools are shut, and students are stranded at home, with extremely limited contact with friends and virtually no physical activity, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic raging across the world. IB, A Levels, ICSE, CBSE all known and recognized boards have postponed or cancelled examinations. Likewise, top colleges like MIT, Harvard, Princeton have closed. Closer home, institutions like IITs and IIMs have all closed their campuses and moved classes online. Even standardized tests like GMAT, GRE, SATs, ACT remain suspended and the future of many students hangs in balance! Clearly, there is panic all around and educators and students alike are confused as to next steps and continuity with respect to educational objectives. In our opinion there are three major education problem...

  As a lot of people gather to applaud the much-awaited changes in the educational policies, here are a few points that everyone needs to consider. This is a critique of only the main points. The New National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 document is very comprehensive. The actual and accurate critique would be a long document in itself. Being a teacher and a parent, I ask all the governments across 73 years of Independence — why is education such a joke in our country? Before declaring policies, I wish experienced and knowledgeable linguists and educationists had been consulted. To make India a vibrant educational hub, one needs to take steps forward and not backwards. We need to compare our education boards with international boards. People lagging need to be brought forward. However, we are doing the opposite. I wish all the fantastic tales that are spun in the educational policies and frameworks would come true and I hope we soon realise that we need proper implementation, teache...

The coronavirus has pushed schools all over the world to go online as new waves of infections keep emerging. In India, a country where the gaps in access to education and the Internet were already vast, poor families are struggling to stay the course. Shirin Riyaz Shah, 15, attends a small private school in Mumbai. There’s one smart-phone between her and her four siblings over which they sit through Zoom lessons and submit homework via WhatsApp. Their schedules don’t blend neatly and there’s a constant tussle over the phone. Data is especially precious because money, always tight, is now in even shorter supply as the pandemic stretches her family’s single income. Her father is a tailor and for now, movement restrictions mean he’s mostly home. When that changes so will the children’s access to his phone. And digital classrooms make the process of learning harder. “In class we can raise our hands over and over again and it isn’t a problem,” said Shah by phone. “We can ask teachers to pau...