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

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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,

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

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

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

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

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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,

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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?’,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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)’,

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having regard to the European Child Guarantee,

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

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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),

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

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having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

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

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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;

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