Pic: Education World Forum
Doha: Lauding Qatar’s global education efforts, Education Director at the World Bank, Jaime Saavedra, has said that the country could contribute in rebuilding education in post COVID-19 era.
He said Qatar has commendably focused on investments into education across the world and it could help rebuilding education through global advocacy, financial support and by setting a global example.
In an email interview with The Peninsula, Saavedra said that to rebuild education, Qatar as a nation can contribute globally, through its global advocacy and through its financial support. “Notably through Qatari foundations, of which at least two are known the world over — the Qatar Foundation and Education Above All Foundation — Qatar has commendably focused on investments into educating the out-of-school children and talented but excluded youth in poor countries.”
“Qatar can maintain that leadership by increasing its investments globally in education, which could also include higher contributions to the World Bank, which is the largest international fund of education,” he said.
Saavedra said that Qatar can also be a global example of how to rebuild an equitable and well-performing education system where all students, girls and boys, thrive on challenging learning and sharing the approaches and tools.
“For instance, Qatar and the World Bank could work together to modernise and strengthen literacy in Arabic in the Middle East and North Africa where one in two 10-year-olds is learning poor in the sense that he or she cannot read and comprehend a simple text,” he said.
The education of over 1.7 billion learners has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 pandemic, though before the outbreak of the pandemic the world was already tackling a learning crisis. According to Chanduv, as countries prepare for an uncertain reopening, the immediate priority is to minimise dropout rates, make up for learning losses, and ensure the more disadvantaged don’t get left further behind.
“We must, as a community, seize this opportunity to reimagine traditional models of education service delivery in bold ways.
"The World Bank, for its part, is now working in 65 countries providing technical assistance and $2.6bn in financial support for the pandemic response, with a focus on ‘building back better’ so that systems don’t replicate the problems that led to a learning crisis before COVID-19 and are better prepared for future shocks,” he said.
In the schools of the future, learning will happen anywhere, anytime and for all, according to Chanduv. “The ultimate goal is for learning to take place with joy, rigor, and purpose; learning spaces will be flexible and inclusive so that children can learn anywhere, anytime; all schools will be safe and inclusive; and school leaders will be innovative and will use technology to improve school management,” he said.
