P9_TA(2022)0138

EU strategy to promote education for children in the world

European Parliament resolution of 3 May 2022 toward an EU strategy to promote education for children in the world: mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021/2209(INI))

(2022/C 465/04)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989,

— having regard to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

— having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021,

— having regard to the General Comments of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (1),

— having regard to the UN guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children of 18 December 2009,

— having regard to the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty of 11 July 2019,

— having regard to the UN policy brief of 15 April 2020 entitled ‘The impact of COVID-19 on children’, and to the positive response thereto co-led by the EU and the Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries and signed by 173 countries,

— having regard to the policy response of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of 19 October 2020 entitled ‘What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrants and their children?’,

— having regard to the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, adopted on 14 December 1960,

— having regard to the UNICEF, UNESCO and World Bank brochure entitled ‘Mission: Recovering Education in 2021’,

— having regard to Article 49 of the Charter of the Organization of American States of 1967,

— having regard to Article 11 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990,

— having regard to Articles 17 and 25 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1981,

— having regard to Article 31 of the Human Rights Declaration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations of 2012,

— having regard to Article 14 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU,

— having regard to Articles 3(5) and 21 of the Treaty on European Union,

— having regard to the UN Development Programme report of April 2021 entitled ‘Leaving No One Behind: Impact of COVID-19 on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’,

— having regard to the European Child Guarantee,

— having regard to the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021 and the Commission’s zero tolerance approach towards child labour,

— having regard to its resolution of 26 November 2019 on children’s rights on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (2),

— having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2021 on the Syrian conflict — 10 years after the uprising (3),

— having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Development and the Committee on Culture and Education,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A9-0058/2022),

A. whereas almost five million people globally have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting governments all over the world to enact extraordinary measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including closing schools and limiting access to educational facilities;

B. whereas new variants are intensifying the COVID-19 health crisis, while conflicts and other crises, including the climate crisis, continue to put children around the world at an increased risk of falling below minimum proficiency levels;

C. whereas access to education is an internationally recognised fundamental human right that is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights; whereas the right to education entails that primary education is compulsory and universal and is accessible to all;

D. whereas UNICEF estimates that more than 168 million children have lost a full year of education because of school closures due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, while UNESCO data shows that education has been significantly disrupted for 800 million students worldwide, who lost two thirds of an academic year on average;

E. whereas since March 2020, around 194 countries have been forced to close schools nationwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 1,8 billion school learners globally and cut off their access to education and other vital benefits provided by schools; whereas schools in some regions are still closed; whereas the closure of schools has increasingly exposed children to violence, abuse and exploitation, including in a domestic setting; whereas partial or total school closures impact vulnerable and marginalised children the most by increasing the existing disparities within education systems and disrupting all aspects of their daily lives;

F. whereas according to UNICEF, one third of children worldwide do not have access to the internet, which creates a barrier to access to remote/digital learning; whereas the need for remote learning and teaching programmes will remain after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in countries affected by natural disasters and conflict; whereas e-learning has created new challenges for teachers in terms of facilitating student learning and maintaining social interaction; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and the fast-tracked innovative measures taken to ensure continuous learning for children represent an opportunity to reimagine education as more forward-looking, inclusive, flexible and resilient; whereas remote learning programmes must be accessible for all children, taking into account the socioeconomic challenges children may face, as well as their lack of access to the internet, broadcasts or digital media;

G. whereas the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on parents have in turn impacted the health, well-being and access to education of their children; whereas school closures have found parents unprepared for remote and home schooling; whereas some working parents without financial means or alternatives have been forced to leave their children home alone, and others, mostly women, have been forced out of work, thereby pushing families into poverty;

H. whereas more than 90 % of countries introduced some form of remote learning during the emergency school closures; whereas remote learning mostly benefited children in primary and secondary education, leaving children at pre-primary level at risk of being unprepared for primary school;

I. whereas schoolchildren around the world have already lost around 1,8 trillion hours of in-person learning since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and more than 39 billion in-school meals have been missed globally because of school closures (4);

J. whereas well before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already facing a global learning crisis caused not only by hampered access to education due to poverty, long commutes to the nearest school, harmful gender norms, discrimination against vulnerable groups, environmental risks and conflicts, but also by schooling that does not necessarily lead to learning; whereas the pandemic has compounded the critical situation of children in a number of conflict regions, which is often characterised, inter alia, by increasing insecurity, greater vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and attacks on educational institutions, leaving children at a heightened risk of being recruited into conflict, which constitutes a serious violation of children’s rights and international humanitarian law; whereas 617 million children and adolescents worldwide are unable to reach minimum proficiency levels in reading (5) and mathematics, even though two thirds of them are at school;

K. whereas COVID-19 has wiped out 20 years of education gains; whereas an additional 101 million children — 9 % of those in grades 1-8 — fell below minimum reading proficiency levels in 2020 (6);

L. whereas an estimated additional 825 million children will not reach adulthood with the secondary-level skills they need for work and life by 2030; whereas millions of children and young people who regularly attended schools are not developing the knowledge and skills they need to successfully enter the job market, achieve their full potential and contribute to their communities;

M. whereas school closures have a large economic impact as they prevent children and young people from developing necessary skills, reaching their full potential and preparing for life, which frequently gives rise to unemployment and, consequently, increases in inequality, thereby resulting in fewer opportunities;

N. whereas according to the UN, there are 11 million primary and secondary school learners worldwide — 5,2 million of whom are girls — at risk of not returning to education following COVID-19-related school closures (7); whereas the longer children are out of school, the higher the likelihood that they will drop out of education altogether; whereas this situation risks undermining the results obtained in the area of education and towards the achievement of the SDGs, and in particular those related to poverty reduction, health and well-being, and quality education;

O. whereas school closures have distinct gendered impacts and carry risks of widening inequalities; whereas it is estimated that school closures during crises may lead to increases in teenage pregnancy; whereas girls out of school are disproportionally exposed to the risk of early and forced marriage and sexual exploitation; whereas it is estimated that two million more cases of female genital mutilation could occur over the next decade; whereas a significant number of girls may be blocked from returning to schools once they reopen given the existence of certain discriminatory policies that ban pregnant girls and young mothers from school;

P. whereas 129 million girls worldwide are out of school, including 32 million of primary-school age, 30 million of lower-secondary-school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary-school age; whereas fewer than half of countries worldwide have achieved gender parity in participation in primary education; whereas the shift to remote learning puts children, in particular girls, from the poorest and most vulnerable households at a significant risk of dropping out of school permanently or for extended periods;

Q. whereas 9 of the top 10 most difficult nations for girls to be educated in are in Sub-Saharan Africa and the other is Afghanistan, where the Taliban have effectively deprived girls of education past primary school by ordering secondary schools to reopen only for boys; whereas the Taliban’s unclear policy and vague and unfulfilled promises about girls’ education makes millions of Afghan girls understandably fearful for their education; whereas several international initiatives by universities and private individuals emerged offering remote education for Afghan girls and women;

R. whereas according to several national and regional law enforcement authorities, children out of school — in particular girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as children of minorities, rural, indigenous and migrant children, including refugees, children with disabilities, children in care and children who have lost their parents and/or grandparents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, among others — are disproportionally vulnerable to exploitation, child labour and domestic violence, including the witnessing of violence, online bullying and other crimes such as sexual exploitation and abuse (8);

S. whereas in addition to the enormous social costs, the World Bank estimates that a global school shutdown of five months could generate learning losses that have a present value of USD 10 trillion; whereas loss of learning may cost economies up to USD 161 million per day;

T. whereas school closures have unfortunately been essential to limit the spread of COVID-19; whereas schools are more than places where children can learn, as they also constitute meeting places and hubs for mental health and psychosocial support; whereas according to UNESCO and UNICEF, school closures do not only affect the right to education but also the right to health, with more than 80 million children missing primary vaccinations as a result of school closures; whereas school closures mean that teachers are not able to look out for signs of abuse or a lack of proper care on the part of parents; whereas according to the UNICEF Office of Research — Innocenti and the World Food Programme, school closures also impact the right to good nutrition and access to a daily meal; whereas school food programmes can provide incentives for the most vulnerable children to return to school; whereas school closures seriously affect children’s mental well-being as children can be exposed to violence and stress in the home; whereas school closures may have acute and long-lasting psychosocial consequences, including depression, increased anxiety and suicide, as children are deprived of social contact;

U. whereas dropping out of school reinforces social inequality and may affect a country’s stability and prosperity, thereby jeopardising the futures of millions of the world’s children and severely impacting a whole generation; whereas education has proven essential to countering extremism and the radicalisation of children and young people;

V. whereas according to the UNHCR Education Report 2021 half of all refugee children remain out of school; whereas refugee children are excluded from remote learning opportunities; whereas the overcrowded living conditions of child refugees, especially those living in refugee camps, often facilitate the spread of the virus and hamper compliance with sanitary rules; whereas the COVID-19 situation in the camps constitutes a crisis for children, as many children often already have weakened immune systems or underlying health conditions during their formative years, which puts them at higher risk of developing more severe cases when coping with this deadly virus; whereas most refugee camps do not have suitable health services to adequately respond to children’s and their families’ needs;

W. whereas the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide disproportionately affects low-income countries;

1. Acknowledges and expresses appreciation for the work of teachers, educators of all kinds and support staff, who rapidly adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensured the continuation of the learning process for children and adolescents; commends initiatives by international and local civil society organisations, private citizens and businesses to provide children with information and communication technology, remote learning courses and other learning materials, especially in countries where children have limited access to remote learning or no access to learning at all; urges the Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Member States to promote a children’s rights-based approach to global efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to education for children, and one which is based on the principles of non-discrimination, acting in the best interests of the child and child participation;

2. Acknowledges that education is a cross-cutting issue relevant to all dimensions of sustainable development;

3. Welcomes the commitments made at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development and the adoption of the Berlin Declaration; insists on ensuring quality education for all children as an enabler for all SDGs and underscores the importance of integrating sustainable development into all levels of education and training from early childhood to tertiary and adult education, including vocational education and training, non-formal education and informal learning;

4. Insists that the EU lead the way as an educational power that enables Member States to fully exercise their capacity to support education for children the world over and assert their convictions on this issue; underlines the key role of the future European Education Area in providing an important opportunity for more international cooperation to build synergies on education beyond Europe in order to develop common approaches and solutions to common challenges; urges the Commission to redouble its efforts to define a strategy to that end, including a clear outline and objectives;

5. Stresses the key importance of guaranteeing children’s right to education and giving every child the opportunity to go back to school and calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in prioritising school reopening in their recovery plans, including support for teachers to help children catch up with lost learning and support for children’s well-being, as schools are critical for children’s learning, safety, health, nutrition and overall well-being; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support third-country authorities in ensuring that all children can enjoy their right to primary education and to take action to ensure that secondary education is available and accessible; calls, furthermore, on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support third-country authorities in developing and implementing digital teaching and learning methods and to facilitate internet access for all;

6. Considers that improving domestic resource mobilisation, protecting and strongly increasing domestic expenditure on social sectors, notably education and health, and improving the quality of this expenditure must be prioritised in national recovery plans and assistance programmes run by EU and international financial institutions; insists, in this context, on ensuring equitable allocation and financing so that disadvantaged, impoverished and marginalised children — with a particular focus on girls — young people and families are not left behind; highlights that the best interests of the child must guide all efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to education and that such measures must respect children’s rights to be informed, empowered and given the opportunity to have their voices heard;

7. Stresses that it is essential to take into account the social situation of parents and to support families whose income has been reduced as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

8. Acknowledges that achieving quality education must be a priority for the official development assistance of the EU and the Member States;

9. Notes that forced displacement leads to rising numbers of people living in refugee settings; calls on the Commission to support skill transmission in refugee camps and strong education support for refugees and displaced people in order to support their integration and engagement in income generating activities;

10. Is concerned by the lasting financial impact of the pandemic on funding for education, as the majority of UNESCO member states have not yet reached the threshold of 4–6 % of GDP or 15–20 % of public expenditure;

11. Highlights the inequity in efforts to tackle the pandemic owing to unequal access to vaccines, resulting in unequal protection capabilities; emphasises that the pandemic can only be brought to an end if it is done so globally and that vaccines must be accessible to all; calls on the Member States to increase their contributions to and the overall efficiency of the UN COVAX programme to guarantee sufficient access to COVID-19 vaccines for third countries in order to allow them to put national COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in place that are in line with the guidelines set by competent national public health authorities and the World Health Organization, so as to ensure a speedy return to schools; urges the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to work closely with their transatlantic allies and international partners in order to boost the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring fair distribution to the countries and populations that are most in need, and aiming to enhance global access to affordable COVID-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages;

12. Urges the EU, in conjunction with the US and other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to scale up the production and range of supply options to ensure equitable access to diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics and other relevant health products needed to contain, prevent and treat COVID-19 and to ensure that these objectives are achieved by the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO;

13. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in financing and implementing ‘safe school’ operations, including providing hygiene supplies and sharing information on handwashing and other hygiene measures, as well as on maintaining the continuity of nutrition services for school-age children and adolescents; stresses that school meals and clean water are vital in ensuring children’s nutrition, growth and development as they provide a strong incentive for children — especially girls and those from the poorest and most marginalised communities — to return to school once restrictions are lifted; highlights, in this regard, the key role that teachers and civil society actors, including faith-based organisations, religious communities and NGOs, can play in health promotion and in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in supporting children and their families in overcoming the challenges and difficulties posed by the health crisis, improving their well-being and providing training and education programmes;

14. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in establishing education risk mitigation and management plans through resilience planning; highlights the importance of developing and guaranteeing contingency planning and crisis response plans now to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools and to minimise the impact of school closures on children and their families, especially on the poorest and most marginalised children, as well as those with severe disabilities; highlights, in this regard, the need to prioritise children in conflict-affected areas and their access to quality education;

15. Underlines the impact that school closures could have on parents’ professional responsibilities while they simultaneously take care of their children; stresses the importance of providing working parents with proper resources and guidance on distance education, extracurricular activities, and psychological support methods for balancing working from home and home schooling;

16. Stresses the importance of providing educational and psychosocial support to children and families who must self-isolate to minimise the risk of contagion, with a view to reducing stress and anxiety in the home;

17. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in proactively issuing guidance on best practices in remote learning, and in ensuring that appropriate and safe tools, curricula and technology are used and are made accessible to children from low-income families, rural, indigenous and migrant children, marginalised children and children with disabilities or learning difficulties, children in alternative care, children in places of detention, and children living in remote areas or in environments where they are deprived of liberty or where internet access is not ubiquitous; highlights the potential for digital learning to enable educational institutions to reach all children at speed and scale, while at the same time fostering partnerships and working with a wide range of actors from civil society as well as the public and private sectors; insists, however, that investment in digital learning must seek to reduce the digital divide and must be context-specific, consistent with the best interests of the child and not to the detriment of supporting basic education infrastructure and staff, as well as in-person learning; recalls, however, that access to digital technologies has still not been equitable or widespread during the pandemic; considers that heavy investment is needed in this sector, in terms of both training and funding; calls for the EU and its Member States to continue to provide accessible educational resources and open access to digital tools for teachers, parents and students; stresses, in this regard, that children’s privacy and the protection of personal data must be guaranteed in connection with all digital tools and that due account must be taken of gender-responsive content and the different realities of children’s lives;

18. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to maintain robust funding for education through all EU financial instruments available, in line with the 10 % benchmark on education in the Global Europe instrument, and to make more funding available in order to increase resilience to ongoing and future crises;

19. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in ensuring appropriate care for children, including by putting in place a contingency plan for the care of children orphaned or left without appropriate care because of severe cases of COVID-19 that require hospitalisation of adult caregivers;

20. Calls on the Commission to establish a link between possible investment de-risking activities and financial support for access to education and vocational training, particularly to establishing proper infrastructure and training for teachers, under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) — Global Europe;

21. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to support the governments of third countries in building and further developing stronger gender-responsive and inclusive education systems accompanied by the eradication of all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls; recalls that women’s access to education has been established as a fundamental right by the UN; believes that increasing girls’ education and supporting women’s participation in education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a matter of priority should be a central policy target for the EU and the international development community; insists, in this regard, on the need for girls to be able to complete their education and have access to age-appropriate information and services, free from discrimination and gender bias and with equal opportunities to fulfil their potential; stresses the urgent need to address gender-related barriers to education, such as laws, policies and harmful socio-cultural norms that prevent girls from continuing education in the event of pregnancy, marriage or motherhood; encourages the tackling of gender stereotypes and harmful socio-cultural norms through education, and the prevention of violence through gender-sensitive education programming;

22. Condemns the fact that millions of girls worldwide do not have access to education, thus leaving them exposed to dependence and at a higher risk of violence and exploitation, especially in cases where women and girls are systematically denied access to education, work and public life by the authorities in power; rejects the misuse and instrumentalisation of any practice that discriminates in access to education and imposes the closing of schools; calls for an end to these practices and urges the reopening of all schools for girls and women;

23. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to preserve and further strengthen the achievements of the past 20 years in education for women and girls in Afghanistan; urges that the requisite funding be allocated within the EU humanitarian aid package for Afghanistan to enable international and local organisations to facilitate the reopening of educational facilities for women and girls and to develop remote learning programmes as a temporary measure; calls for similar attention to be paid to the education of Afghan children and young people in countries hosting Afghan refugees;

24. Underlines that the right to education and information on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, modern contraceptive methods, safe and legal abortion, and maternal, prenatal and postnatal healthcare must be guaranteed for all people;

25. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States, as well as the national governments of third countries, to develop specific programmes to manage and mitigate the mental health and psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on children, teachers and their communities, and to design specific preventive campaigns aimed at children, parents and teachers on the risks when using the internet, such as harassment, trafficking, sexual abuse and online bullying as well as promote special plans to assist children who have been a victim of these practices, and their parents;

26. Underlines the need for age-appropriate, evidence-based, comprehensive sexuality education programmes to reduce the vulnerability of girls and young women to early childbirth and unintended pregnancy, child marriage, prostitution, HIV transmission and gender-based violence;

27. Notes that the ratio of pupils to trained professionals in the Sub-Saharan region remains high, despite the EU’s various efforts and the assistance it provides; highlights the regional averages of 58 pupils per trained teacher at primary level, and 43 pupils per trained teacher at secondary level; points out that many developing countries struggle to make efficient use of resources and that very often, increased education spending does not translate into more learning and improved human capital; stresses the role of teachers at all levels in facilitating learning, the importance of technology for learning and efficient management of schools and education systems in these countries; recalls that according to UNESCO, there is a need to hire at least 15 million teachers to reach the education-related goals in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, in line with SDG 4;

28. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of partner countries in addressing the challenges in their education systems with the aim of making them capable of withstanding future crises, and making systems more resilient and inclusive, implementing learning recovery programmes and protecting educational budgets, with dedicated investments in high-quality, affordable and inclusive education, including investments in education technology tools, teacher training and other resources to ensure that children and young people reach their full potential, are prepared for life and do not miss out on opportunities to enter the labour market later in life, while respecting the education needs and rights of every child; highlights that remote learning programmes designed to address future crises must encompass different learning materials, including printed material, in order to be accessible to the most disadvantaged and marginalised children;

29. Welcomes the UNESCO Paris Declaration: a Global Call for Investing in the Futures of Education; urges countries around the world to consider education as an investment rather than an expense; believes that adequate and effective financial assistance in education is a prerequisite to eliminate poverty and enhance well-being, especially at a time when public resources are increasingly constrained with competing demands in badly affected sectors such as health and education; urges the Commission and the Member States to substantially increase funding for education in their international development and assistance strategies;

30. Underlines that young people are the most valuable assets for boosting developing countries’ economic development;

31. Recalls that the global community is committed to improving the quality of education by 2030 (SDG 4);

32. Calls for international educational exchanges between young people in Africa and the EU to be increased, through programmes such as Erasmus and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, aimed at helping new entrepreneurs to acquire the relevant skills for managing businesses;

33. Calls on the Member States to take account of the fact that the COVID-19 health crisis has exacerbated the situation of those detained in camps in Syria and to immediately repatriate all European children held in those camps, ensuring that the best interest of the child prevails as the primary consideration;

34. Stresses the importance of including vocational training and ‘second chance programmes’ in the recovery plans to help children and young people enter the labour market; calls on the Commission, the EEAS, the Member States and third countries to offer desirable future prospects for young people;

35. Stresses the importance of accompanying investment in training and education with support for job creation to provide a better future outlook for the next generation of young people in Africa and other developing regions; notes the particular importance of public-private partnership in achieving SDG 8 on access to decent work; stresses the importance of secondary education and vocational training, which are essential for youth employability and sustainable development; further notes that the increasing youth population of Africa requires first and foremost the support of quality education and the advancement of vocational skills training to increase mobility and access to markets and rights;

36. Calls for the EU to foster investment in vocational training and lifelong learning and the strengthening of educational structures, in cooperation with the private sector, to harness human capital;

37. Highlights the importance of continuous professional development and enhanced financial support for teachers, empowering them to address learning losses among their students so as to be able to respond to their individual social, family and mental health conditions, and to incorporate digital technology into their teaching; stresses the urgent need to seize the opportunity and employ COVID-19 recovery funds and fast-tracked innovative measures used to ensure remote learning during the pandemic to reimagine education and build systems that are more forward-looking, inclusive, flexible and resilient; believes that these new approaches must address learning losses, prevent dropouts, and ensure the social and emotional welfare of students, teachers and staff;

38. Emphasises the role of non-formal and informal education, citizenship education and volunteering; calls on the Commission to support third countries in improving the recognition of soft skills; insists on the promotion of practices of intergenerational solidarity and mentoring to reduce inequalities, exclusion or early school leaving;

39. Calls for the acceleration of global knowledge exchanges and mobility at all levels of education and between and within countries and regions, while acknowledging the complex and contested history of global relationships and emphasising the importance of promoting heritage, cultural identity, history, art and global citizenship through education; notes the potential of combining online exchanges and travel to this end;

40. Stresses the importance of developing and strengthening awareness-raising activities related to climate change and environmental protection and their impact on children and future generations; calls for environmental education to be made a core component of school curricula;

41. Emphasises the important role of physical education in schools, as physical activity and a healthy lifestyle are key to improving learners’ health; calls on the Commission and the EEAS, therefore, to support national authorities in ensuring sufficient and safe sports facilities in schools and the training of qualified sports teachers;

42. Draws attention to the need to harness the synergies between culture and education in order to shape sustainable, inclusive and resilient societies; calls on the Commission and the EEAS, in this regard, to support national authorities in including arts and culture in school curricula and extracurricular activities in order to enrich the educational and learning experiences of learners in third countries;

43. Considers that national governments — and their competent national, regional or local authorities — must communicate with children in a child-friendly manner to explain the measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 in order to raise awareness about the impact, risks and threats of COVID-19 and to inform children of their rights;

44. Stresses the importance of the acquisition of skills, notably through face-to-face learning, that will enable children to progress throughout their lives, such as on personal relationships, study skills, empathy and cooperation; highlights the importance of children being able to engage in play and leisure activities as a key element of their development, as recognised in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; calls for steps to be taken to enhance the enjoyment of leisure and cultural activities for children, both as rights in and of themselves and as a means to improve their mental health and general well-being;

45. Reiterates its call for all UN member states which have not done yet done so to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, while stressing the importance of making this core human rights instrument effective worldwide;

46. Stresses the need to properly evaluate, follow up on and monitor the impact of initiatives introduced during the crisis, in order to identify the gaps and shortfalls and determine how they can be remedied;

47. Commits to making education a key topic of discussions in parliamentary delegation work, notably through joint parliamentary assemblies such as the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly;

48. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) In particular General Comment No 5 on general measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; No 6 on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin; No 10 on children’s rights in juvenile justice; No 12 on the right of the child to be heard; No 13 on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence; No 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration; No 15 on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health; and No 16 on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights.

(2) OJ C 232, 16.6.2021, p. 2.

(3) OJ C 474, 24.11.2021, p. 130.

(4) UNICEF Office of Research, COVID-19: Missing More Than a Classroom — The impact of school closures on children’s nutrition, January 2021.

(5) UNESCO, Fact Sheet No 46, More Than One-Half of Children and Adolescents Are Not Learning Worldwide, September 2017.

(6) UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021, 15 July 2021.

(7) UNESCO, How many students are at risk of not returning to school?, 30 July 2020.

(8) Press release of 19 June 2020 by Europol entitled ‘Exploiting isolation: sexual predators increasingly targeting children during COVID pandemic’.