To mark St Nicholas’ Day celebrated today in remembrance of the patron saint of children, Theany Bazet, Thematic Fund Manager, looks at how companies working in the field of online learning can help build a more sustainable world of tomorrow.
Many parents try to get their kids off computer games and the web and onto a good book. But the COVID-19 pandemic has changed all that across the world, at least in relation to the Internet. During the lockdowns and school closures, web-based schooling platforms have become essential tools of their children’s education. But not for all.
Inequality again has proved to be the crucial segregating factor. The extent to which pandemic school closures had affected children depended on what access and tools their parents and their schools could afford to keep on learning during the pandemic. Not only home internet connection is regarded as a luxury in many of the world’s poorer countries, but many historically under-resourced schools did not have the necessary online tools to reach all of their pupils during the crisis, leading to an increased digital divide1.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the spotlight the shortcomings of attaining the UN SDG 4 by 2030 (quality education for all), given the digital divide that hindered education continuity under lockdowns for those with no access to technology. In order to find solutions for some of the worst affected countries, international organizations like UNICEF have been working together with businesses, demonstrating that the private sector can play a positive role in crisis relief and mitigating existing inequalities by providing pupils and schools with affordable and reliable internet access, computer equipment and software supporting home schooling platforms.
“Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”
UN Social Development Goal 4
When COVID shut down schools
What was truly unprecedented during the COVID-19 pandemic was the global scale of the disruption, as schools for more than 168 million children2 were closed around the world. About 214 million children globally – that is one in seven – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning3. According to UNESCO, 1.6 billion students across more than 190 countries were affected by school closures at the peak of COVID-19 - disrupting the learning and the provision of critical services to children and young people across the world, especially the most disadvantaged4.
A majority (53%) of children in low-and-middle income countries experience “learning poverty”5. This is a term used by the World Bank in their study to describe children who received education so poor that they cannot read or understand a simple text by the age of 10. The report puts this figure even higher (80%) for poor countries, given the fact that many children do not attend school at all. Only in crisis-affected countries, 127 million children and young people were out of primary and secondary school in 2019 - this is equivalent to almost half the global out-of-school population6.
So it is clear that COVID-induced school closures tended to particularly harm students from groups facing discrimination and exclusion from education even before the pandemic. The damage to many children’s education is largely driven by preexisting issues as one in five children were out of school even before COVID-19 began to spread7.
The sustainable role of companies
Investors will have a part to play as they join companies, governments and international organizations in the effort to fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their central objective to “leave no one behind” by 2030.
Thanks to international efforts, there are already examples of businesses enabling the provision of online learning tools, including to schools and pupils with limited means. For example, UNICEF’s Reimagine Education program has linked governments and companies to provide digital learning tools to children and teenagers. There is clearly a market for affordable online education in this area that can be filled by companies in a sustainable way as they follow in the steps of international organizations. A range of suppliers can be involved, as online learning is not just software but also a range of educational materials and tools, from textbooks to educational radio broadcasts, online support and tutoring groups as well as podcasts.
As we already mentioned, in most cases when delivering online school tools was not possible, it was due to the absence of internet connection at home or at school. In fact, 1.3 billion children aged 3-17 years old live without internet connection. Hence, there is a scope for innovative commercial solutions across the online education value chain, both for infrastructure and connectivity services.
In fact, probably most solutions for a problem like online education in poorer countries will have to be innovative. It is simply because the standard solutions require access to a personal computer connected to the Internet. As we see, many poorer families do not have that. However, 80% of the world’s population owns a smartphone, which means that software that works as an app on smartphones could be a game changer. It also means that there is a large addressable market for incumbent companies.
In fact, there are several sectors that could not only benefit from potentially strong growth but also meet sustainability objectives in this area – such as infrastructure companies (including electricity providers, telecommunication services, broadband and wireless networks, tower infrastructure, fiber companies), hardware (smartphones, tablets, PC and even educational toys) and software companies (existing actors and new entrants); content creators (publishers and education companies that provide not only printed but digital content too).
Apart from addressing SDG4 by providing commercial solutions to this social problem would indirectly contribute also to reducing inequalities (SDG10), gender equality (SDG5), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG9) and partnerships for the goals (SDG17), while permeating into SDGs 1 and 2 (no poverty, zero hunger, decent work and economic growth) as a better education could pave the way towards better opportunities later in adult life.
Global efforts to improve the lives of children worldwide have so far been almost exclusively in the hands of governments, regulators and international institutions. Increasingly, market forces start to play an important part too and investors, as part of that equation, can help drive a positive change.
The ESG movement has proven to be a force for good in fostering corporations to incorporate sustainability matters into their strategic vision while also demanding more transparency. Shareholder activism is increasingly calling for change, better practices and more accountability. Now that social issues have come more into the spotlight, responsible investors continue to evolve and align their investment practices towards those companies leading the way into a transformational contribution towards reduced inequalities and more fair and just societies.
1 https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/05/17/years-dont-wait-them/increased-inequalities-childrens-right-education-due-covid
2 https://data.unicef.org/resources/one-year-of-covid-19-and-school-closures/
3 https://www.oecd.org/education/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-education-insights-education-at-a-glance-2020.pdf
4 https://en.unesco.org/news/secretary-general-warns-education-catastrophe-pointing-unesco-estimate-24-million-learners-0
5 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/learning-poverty
6 https://inee.org/resources/20-years-inee-achievements-and-challenges-education-emergencies
7 https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/keeping-worlds-children-learning-through-covid-19