January 15th, 2021

Safe Education in a time of Covid-19

Nelson Mandela famously described education as “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. That transformation happens one child at a time.

Our partner schools care for the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of students. They give children with consistency and a sense of belonging. Ultimately, education opens the door to new career opportunities and is the first step on the route out of poverty. The long-term benefit is not just to individuals but whole families.

INUK’s child sponsorship programme supports over 1,100 children across 12 countries around the world through our partner-run schools. These schools provide hope to families and a future for the children they care for. They are also the driving forces for sustainable community development initiatives such as WASH.

Education in a time of Covid-19

At the peak of school closures in March, it was estimated that 1.6 billion learners were out of school (UNESCO). We have yet to see what the long-term impact of the pandemic will be on global education but there is a large amount of concern within the development community.

During the closures, many of our partners worked hard to deliver learning materials remotely to students. This temporary solution is no substitute to being together in person and most countries have now begun to gradually reopen their schools. As the economic impact of the pandemic takes its toll, most observers are anticipating a collapse in the ability of parents to pay school fees. This has the potential to put added financial stress on educational institutions, many of which already struggle to pay running costs and retain a quality teaching staff.

Now is a time when we urgently need to strengthen the support, we give to our partners to ensure that their schools are able to stay open and fully equipped to continue serving the children. We hope to meet this need through additional child sponsors who can help us support struggling families and also bring further benefit to the schools themselves.

Safe Education

The safety of all pupils is a paramount aspect of education that has now taken centre stage. Governments around the world have introduced new regulations to ensure children are kept safe and the spread of the virus is kept to a minimum. Most students now need to wear facemasks and routinely wash hands. Classrooms are spread out throughout buildings with all available space being used inside and out.

With your support, we have been able to provide additional furniture and food support in order for our partner schools to be able to receive children back safely. There are many challenges ahead, but we can see how our partners are best placed to help carry the students and their local communities through this crisis.

Join the IN Family

The IN Family is our membership for supporters who give regularly to International Needs. A monthly donation towards Education projects will enable us to continue to serve children from the neediest families around the world. To sign up click below:

https://ineeds.org.uk/join-the-in-family/