A global coalition has come together to help protect the future education of children and young people across the world.

The Save our Future campaign is made up of more than 600 civil society organisations, research organisations, foundations, media, youth, and influencers. The coalition estimates that nearly 1.6 billion had their education disrupted during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Members of the campaign are calling on governments to prioritise funding for education to ensure that the most vulnerable in society do not miss out, including refugees, girls, and children with disabilities. The call was made at an event hosted by UNESCO, where a white paper was published outlining recommendations for how education systems could look post-Covid-19.

The paper, called Save Our Future: Averting an Education Catastrophe for the World’s Children, recommends:

– protecting education budgets and targeting budgets to those left furthest behind;

– fully financing education as a key part of the COVID recovery;

– and improving coordination and use of evidence to ensure education funding achieves maximum impact.

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, said:

As the global community works together to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, we must remember that access to an education is one of the very last hopes for any child and young person enduring a protracted crisis. Let us deliver on their hope and build back better.

Experts have already warned that time lost at school due to the pandemic could impact the economy for decades to come.

The coalition claims that now is the opportunity to reimagine and reboot education in bold ways, developing a new vision for children in the decade ahead.

Image by the Global Partnership for Education