Photo credit: Christine Redmond / Aide et Action
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads around the world, unprecedented numbers of children and young people are no longer attending school or university. In the context of this global health crisis, in our 19 countries of intervention, we are organising ourselves to maintain our activities with the most vulnerable and marginalised populations.
According to UNESCO, 105 countries have closed their schools throughout their territory, affecting more than 959 million of children and young people. And 10 countries have made localised closures. If these countries decide to close down all schools, tens of millions of additional learners will suffer disruptions in their education. In this context, Aide et Action's activities are also impacted. Among our 19 countries of intervention, many have taken exceptional measures that affect education.
959 million children and young people without an education
To date, here is the latest information from some of our fields of intervention:
- In Senegal, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, schools are closed throughout the country until the end of March (mid-April for Côte d'Ivoire).
- In Laos and Cambodia, all schools are closed until 20 April. In Cambodia, our teams are carrying out appropriate educational activities, including promoting handwashing in schools and distributing soap to those in the most remote areas. Our mobile library system will also promote handwashing in 100 villages across 8 provinces and provide educational information on virus prevention. Finally, 6,000 families should be sensitised through the distribution of flyers on good hygiene practices and the sharing of information via a loudspeaker system in each village.
- In Vietnam, after almost 2 months of closure, schools are starting to reopen this week (except in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi where the closure will last until early April).
- In India, the government has declared school holidays from 15 to 31 March in most states. To ensure the safety of the children, our teams have temporarily suspended their work in all our projects dedicated to the education of migrant children.
- Some projects in Sri Lanka and Nepal have also been temporarily suspended.
Our teams are particularly attentive to the evolution of the pandemic and to the implementation of measures and recommendations of the health authorities.
In this context of global health crisis, Aide et Action, which is fighting for access to quality education for all, will continue to do its best to support the most vulnerable and marginalized populations. We hope that learning plans adapted to the situation will be developed, quickly, by the different governments in order to ensure the continuity of learning for all, children, youth and adults.
