Bridging the Digital Gap for Children's Learning Needs
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated educational disruption represents a catastrophe for the schooling, learning, and earning potential of the more than
110 million students from pre-primary to higher education in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA). An entire generation of students, children and adolescents has been affected by this unprecedented disruption, with a potential far-reaching impact beyond the education sector to include consequences for their mental health, well-being, socialisation and prospects for being active participants in society, including in the labour market. Efforts to ensure access to learning have varied - from country to country and by grade - and have included face-to-face learning, hybrid learning and full remote learning (comprising digital learning platforms, television and radio broadcasts and distribution of paper-based materials).
Despite these efforts, evidence shows that approximately 40 per cent of students in MENA (37 million children and adolescents) have not benefitted from any remote learning initiative, the majority of whom were already vulnerable and disadvantaged. The main reasons for exclusion were the lack of availability of remote learning initiatives and the lack of tools to access remote learning
(particularly digital devices and internet connections). This event convenes leading experts in the region to examine the consequences of digital poverty and explore solutions to close this gap for greater equity in children's education outcomes in the MENA region.
Speaker of the day
- Speaker: Ted Chaiban.
- Speaker: Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar.
Speaker
Shahbano Tirmizi
Moderator; Director, Programme for People and Planet, Expo 2020 Dubai
- Speaker: Ted Chaiban.
- Speaker: Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar.
Speaker
Shahbano Tirmizi
Moderator; Director, Programme for People and Planet, Expo 2020 Dubai
