The SNSPA Scholas Occurrentes Regional Centre, through the international program University of Meaning and in collaboration with the international network of Scholas Chairs, organizes, on February 26, 2021 starting at 4 PM (Bucharest time), the webinar “Education and Development in (post) pandemic Times”.
This event will bring together experts, teachers and practitioners who will address the effects of the pandemic on education. AGENDA
In organizing the event, it was taken into account that the impact of the pandemic is deeply felt by the education systems on which various pressures act, both related to the need for digitization and the immediate need to educate. This impact is not isolated and the effects of the crisis are felt both on national and international curricula and on research and funding. The digital divide has become more acute, as the coronavirus crisis has rapidly increased the need to be “online”, while in 2017, according to UNICEF, 29% of young people worldwide (15-24) were not. Moreover, the dropout rate is higher in the current conditions.
Restricting the movement of people who have been potentially exposed to the disease has been shown to have a strong psychological impact on them. According to the World Health Organization, children and young people tend to be adversely affected by isolation and may manifest anxiety and fear. To these the challenges related to the adaptation of the curriculum to online teaching and, implicitly, those of quality assurance in the new context are added.
In addition, knowing that almost 60 million people are expected to be exposed to poverty due to the global pandemic and given the current impact of the crisis on education institutions, the questions the event seeks to answer are: “What will the new normality of higher education look like and how can it be shaped?”, “What role does solidarity play in trying to overcome the crisis in a way that does not deepen existing structural inequalities?”, “How do you balance the priorities regarding education and development in times of crisis?”. We sense that some answers to these questions, as well as possible solutions to address the effects of the current crisis already exist and that a shared experience in this regard could emerge by creating a meeting space. As Pope Francis himself said in the Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, “We need new ways of self-expression and participation in society. Education makes this possible to the extent that it allows every human being to shape his or her own future”.
The event will be held in English and Spanish (with simultaneous translation), and participation is open and free, upon registration through the following Form https://forms.gle/PKosPrnxqf4SJ3aX7
*Scholas Occurrentes is a non-profit secular pontifical foundation that currently brings together 500,000 members from 192 countries and implements various educational programs. Its mission is to achieve the integration into society of young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, through technological, sports and artistic proposals that promote education from the perspective of meeting culture. In February 2019, during the institutional visit of José María del Corral (Global Director of Scholas Occurrentes) to the National University of Political and Administrative Studies, the Agreement between Scholas Occurrentes and SNSPA was signed. The opening of the Scholas Occurrentes Regional Center took place on March 21, 2019. One of the first programs implemented was the SNSPA Scholas Chair, which operates within the Scholas International Chairs, an educational network that brings together 100 universities and 35 observers. On September 11, 2020, SNSPA was invited to collaborate in the new international program, University of Meaning / Universidad del Sentido, initiated by Pope Francis and coordinated by representatives of Scholas Occurrentes.
