Global access to education in times of COVID-19

Currently, we live in a generation considered as "digital native", which is characterized by containing individuals who have grown up immersed in information and communication technologies (ICT), thus having direct implications regarding the form of socialization and the process of acquiring and disseminate knowledge (education). However, these new ways and processes coexist with other generations that, contrary to the "digital native" have had to adapt, also changing habits and ways of thinking in an increasingly intergenerational context.

According to some calculations and, considering their time difference, within 12 years “these “digital natives” could constitute 70% of the world population, a situation that necessarily has important repercussions on educational systems. Today's students do not have the same characteristics as those for whom traditional educational systems were created”[1]. Based on this reality, it would be opportune and considerable to think that it is no longer possible to continue teaching in the same way as before.

However, the above does not only imply an adaptation and transition to the change of technology or electronic devices. We start with the consideration of access to these information elements as a given fact, as a right that we all have equally. However, this technology and its access for education, more than a right, represent a privilege for countless people around the world. The current health emergency caused by the pandemic emphasizes this and gives it not only greater importance, but also reveals a problem that concerns international society alike and their respective educational systems.

The right to education

The right to education is a fundamental right of all human beings, since it is vital for the economic, social and cultural development of all societies. In addition, lately it has acquired greater relevance in the world, partly due to the accelerated progress of science and technology that have set a new pattern in the way of educating, as well as due to the health context that governs our current work.

In this way, there are international declarations, pacts and conventions that, referring to education, are established as a means to achieve those purposes at the international level, such as:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948[[1]](#_ftn1) (article 26)
• Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1959[[2]](#_ftn2) (principle 7)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966[[3]](#_ftn3) (article 13)
• 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child[[4]](#_ftn4) (article 28)

By way of example, the first of the aforementioned Declarations is cited:

In accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, article 26, numeral 1 “Everyone has the right to education. Education must be free, at least as far as elementary and fundamental instruction is concerned. In addition, and in accordance with this same statement, numeral 2 (same article) the following is mentioned:

_Education shall aim at the full development of the human personality and the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; it will promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all ethnic or religious groups; and will promote the development of the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

The previous article allows us to understand a little more the importance that education has not only for human beings as individuals or as part of a society or a nation, but also its importance for international society as a whole. Education is seen as a means, perhaps even one of the most important ones, to achieve the main objective and ultimate goal of the United Nations (UN) regarding the maintenance of peace through understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations.

Having said the above, education is not only an important element that allows the social development of the human being, but it is in the elementary stage where it finds the key point and the beginning of this development. Every child should have the right, regardless of a certain situation, to receive this elementary education under conditions of equal opportunity and of similar quality. However, there is currently a great need to promote and encourage international cooperation in education issues, taking as a basis and reality that not all countries have the same development and opportunities for achievement in this area.

Finally, article 3, first paragraph of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States[5] (CPEUM) regarding education is cited, in order to exemplify the commitment they have various States Parties, in relation to previous legislation, to legally reflect the right to education and guarantee equal access to all:

Everyone has the right to education. The State will provide and guarantee initial, preschool, primary, secondary, upper secondary and higher education. Initial education, preschool, primary and secondary, make up basic education; This and the upper average will be mandatory, higher education will be in terms of fraction X of this article. Initial education is a right of childhood and it will be the responsibility of the State to raise awareness about its importance.

Until now, mention has been made of the new "digital stage" that we are going through, its particular generation, the changes in the way of teaching and learning (education) that this entails and the different regulations at the international level that establish the right of all person to access a quality education, coupled with its accessibility by whatever means are necessary in order to guarantee that right. The foregoing is essential when we find ourselves immersed in an international society framed by a health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, where, among other things, access to information elements with the ability to maintain education as a right is required. not just for some, but for all.

However, we start from the reality of the non-existence of any human right that is fully complied with, and although this statement already presumed to be true even before the start of this year, the pandemic has aggravated compliance with many of them, including the topic of education. To think otherwise, rather than an idealistic position, would fall into a clear misunderstanding of the way in which our world works. In the words of Amnesty International, “The battle for human rights is never definitively won anywhere or at any time. It is abundantly clear that no one can take their human rights for granted”[6]. Under this reality, and considering that even since the implementation of this right, access to education did not reach everyone, how much has the pandemic affected this right?

Access to education during the pandemic

Due to the new reality that embraces us internationally, most public services have seen the need to close their doors in each and every one of the countries affected by the pandemic, such is the case of schools, which has brought with it educational challenges never before seen and that present a real challenge for the “more than 90 percent of the countries that have implemented some form of distance learning policy”[1] . These policies have to do, mostly, with distance learning through access to different information elements, such as television, radio, computer, mobile devices, etc. and with the always constant and necessary access to the internet to maintain student-teacher-parent communications.

Due to the above, and in order to estimate the potential scope or not of these new forms of learning, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with data from the United Nations Educational Organization, Science and Culture (UNESCO) and the World Bank (WB), has created a report on the analysis of the potential scope of distance learning policies using data from 100 countries[2]. Among the most notable data in this report, whose objective seeks to make the current situation visible and thereby help decision-makers in different countries to guarantee that more children can acquire an education during the pandemic, are the following:

According to the report, at least 463 million children around the world (31%) in school age ranging from pre-primary to secondary, have not been reached by digital distance learning programs broadcast to counter the school closures, as shown in the following chart:

Source: UNICEF, “COVID-19: Are Children able to continue learning during school clousres?”, Number of students reached and not reached by digital distance learning programs by region.

For at least 31% of the world's children there is currently no such thing as “distance learning”. For the vast majority of these children, their education was completely interrupted during the months that their schools have closed. We are talking about a global educational problem, whose repercussions could and will be felt in the economies and societies of the most affected regions and countries. not to mention the high probability that this percentage is higher than estimated in reality. There is also the fact that the presence of technology necessary to study at home is not the only variable to consider. There are children whose educational level has declined due to a lack of generational skills on the part of their teachers or lack of support from their parents.

Likewise, the previous graph reveals the notable inequality that exists between the different regions of the world, turning out to be the most affected region of Sub-Saharan Africa, where distance learning reaches barely half of the students. For its part, in the Middle East and North Africa, 40% of students do not have access to distance education (37 million); in South Asia this percentage is 38% (147 million); Eastern Europe and Central Asia with 34% (25 million); East Asia and the Pacific with 20% (80 million); and Latin America and the Caribbean with 9% (13 million).

Another relevant piece of information provided by the report is the index of access to education according to age group/educational level, as shown in the following graph:

Source: UNICEF, “COVID-19: Are Children able to continue learning during school clousres?”, Number of students reached and not reached by digital distance learning programs by educational level.

According to the graph above, at least two out of three pre-school students do not have access to distance education, which means that almost 70% (120 million children) will undoubtedly miss one of the most important school stages of their learning and development. According to the Government of the Canary Islands, "it is in early childhood where the person faces his first communicative contacts with the world and at this school stage he carries out his first learning: the child learns, develops and exercises cognitive, affective skills , social and motor”[1].

For their part, 29% of children of primary school age (217 million) do not have access to distance education, as well as 24% of children in the first cycle of secondary school (78 million) and the 18% of age to attend the second cycle of secondary (48 million). With the above, it is possible to visualize the age-access relationship that occurs, where among younger or less educational level, access to distance education for children occurs less frequently than in those of greater age or higher level. educational, largely due to "the obstacles and limitations of this type of education for the little ones: the lack of distance education programs for this educational level, as well as the absence of materials for this modality of learning at home ”[2].

It was already mentioned above, in the section “The right to education” that this right, like any other, cannot unfortunately be taken for granted. Before, during and after this terrible pandemic, there will always be people who do not have the opportunity to access such a valuable fundamental right. Why is this happening and will continue to happen? Just as it happens at the international level, where there is an international (albeit changing) order that governs the operation and determines the relations of the different countries with each other, within each country and territory there are social classes, where according to "an "objectivist" concept “of social reality: a person belongs to a certain social class according to their property relationship with the means of production”[3]. In other words, said social reality is what we could also call capitalist reality, where each person is defined by what they have and/or can have.

Social inequality: the real global challenge

UNESCO's 2016 World Social Science Report, whose central theme for that year was the negative impact of inequality on citizens, communities and countries[1], identified seven dimensions of inequality : economic, political, social, cultural, environmental, spatial and knowledge-based. In turn, these inequalities can create and reinforce division, marginalization, exclusion and poverty and, as mentioned at the end of the previous section, all this responds to an order, to a given structure, which although not predetermined by a subject in particular (the poor could stop being poor, just as the rich could stop being so too) it is an aspect that is taken and to a certain point it is known to be inevitable (there will always be rich, just as there will always be poor ) thus becoming a rule of current social functioning.

This is how social asymmetries (inequality) based on the possibility of having access or not to the information elements necessary to continue with distance education, represent the true global challenge for a good and successful transition in the educational axis of any nation ( from traditional teaching to the new digital teaching). The massive exchange of information can be beneficial to reduce global distancing, however, it points out in the same way the existing gaps and inequalities between communities, cities and countries, where those who have the opportunity to possess the necessary tools will be the ones who fully participate in society and contribute to improving the quality of livelihoods.

Finally, and on the occasion of International Literacy Day, thus declared on September 8 of each year by the General Conference of UNESCO, and where "the Organization considers the acquisition and improvement of literacy skills throughout lifelong as an intrinsic part of the right to education”[2] it is more important than ever for governments to prioritize the phased reopening of schools in order not to continue education at distance to the detriment of the most vulnerable. “Globally, at least 750 million young people and adults still cannot read or write and 250 million children are unable to acquire basic numeracy and literacy skills”[3]. The above figures not only represent a current problem, but a greater problem in the future if access to quality education during this pandemic framework does not reach all children from their early childhood and level of education.