BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin delivered the keynote address on digital cooperation and education, to a meeting co-hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), Viasat and Amazon Web Services. In light of the 2020 UN General Assembly, the event aimed to draw focus on the need for connectivity to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, and to reaffirm the partnership between industry, governments, and the international community to take action towards this end.
The following panel discussion saw the participation of Mr Robert Jenkins, Chief, Education and Associate Director, Programme Division, UNICEF; Ms Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State; and Dr Dirk Van Damme, Head of the Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate of Education and Skills, OECD.
Setting the scene, Ms Bogdan-Martin pointed out the taken-for-granted notion that a few in a handful of countries have of a shared “digital world", which in fact is not a reality for almost half the world's population. While those online are able to take a vast store of information and opportunity for granted, 3.6 billion people are excluded from such resources.
Furthermore, the COVID pandemic has pushed 94% of young learners in over 190 countries out of school, and forced governments to switch almost overnight to online learning platforms. While this has worked for a few, Ms Bogdan-Martin underscored that “an estimated 250 million children remain out of school. And with 30% of youth aged 15 to 24 lacking any kind of internet access, we can only imagine the catastrophic effect this loss of learning could have on these young people's future prospects."
In view of this, she stressed the imperative to meaningfully connect the unconnected. Since its launch in 2019, ITU's Giga initiative with UNICEF and others has already mapped connectivity, availability and speeds for 800,000 schools in 25 countries. “We are also working with partners to evaluate appropriate connectivity technologies to suit different geographical contexts; to create innovative financing models to attract funding for safe, affordable connectivity; and to identify appropriate content to empower not only young learners, but their families and the communities they belong to", noted Ms Bogdan-Martin.
She acknowledged that investing in universal school connectivity involves facing many challenges, and significant costs and risks, but stated, “I truly believe that the costs and risks of inaction will be so much higher."
Pointing to the window of opportunity for action that the pandemic has brought, as it has accentuated importance of connectivity, she noted that the “the pandemic is pushing the education sector to accelerate its digital transformation, as well as throwing a spotlight on the potential for using schools as gateways to empower entire communities."
