The number of children, youth, and adults not attending school or college because of COVID-19 is rising worldwide. According to data from UNESCO, 119 countries have closed schools and educational institutions in an effort to contain the pandemic, affecting more than 861.7 million children and youth—the figures are as of March 18, but they may change rapidly if the pandemic continues to spread.

This situation poses an unprecedented challenge for the education sector, parents, the community, and, above all, students. School closures have forced governments to declare early temporary school breaks or to implement distance learning (EAD).

In the United States, Harvard University announced that in-person undergraduate and graduate courses will switch to remote learning starting March 23, the date on which students were scheduled to return to campus after spring break, according to the U.S. academic calendar. 

Estonia, the top-ranked country in Europe on the 2018 PISA assessment, announced that it would share all of its digital education tools to support the education systems of other countries during the COVID-19 crisis. The list of tools available internationally can be found at this link:http://education-nation.99math.com/

With the suspension of in-person classes, Estonia has opted for an online model for teaching and learning. “Who isn’t afraid of digital education? Learning and teaching digitally is challenging, even under normal circumstances. However, during the COVID-19 outbreak, digital schooling is the only option,” said Mart Laidmets, Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, in an official statement on the government’s website.

“In Estonia, we have several solutions that fully support distance learning, and we are ready to share best practices and solutions with countries in need. After all, providing education is essential for a sustainable society,” added Laidmets.

In Brazil, the Ministry of Education (MEC) has authorized higher education institutions in the federal system to replace in-person classes with distance learning for 30 days, in order to mitigate the damage caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Microsoft, the master sponsor of Bett Educar 2020, maintains a digital hub that brings together conversations, content, assignments, and apps in one place, allowing teachers to create vibrant learning environments. This is the case with Microsoft Teams, which offers various features in one place to avoid the need to use multiple platforms, each with only a single function. To get the most out of Microsoft Teams in everyday use, the hub has developed six collaborative work guides, which are also available online. With these resources, schools and educational institutions can learn at their own pace:

• How to create groups in Teams.
• How to create chat rooms for all coworkers to interact.
• How to share and edit documents.
• How to assign tasks and due dates.
• How to create online meetings and use all the necessary tools.
• How to create surveys or forms.

For more information about Microsoft Teams, visit https://education.microsoft.com/pt-br/resource/94c6b028.

For more information on the education sector’s response to the pandemic, continue following the news on the Bett Educar Blog.