Azerbaijan supports education during pandemic

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Over 1.5 billion students and youth worldwide have been affected by school and university closures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The virus has significantly exacerbated global learning inequalities.

UNESCO decided to launch the Global Education Coalition in March 2020 to ensure the continuity of learning around the world.

The Global Education Coalition is a platform for collaboration and exchange to protect the right to education during and after this unprecedented disruption. The platform brings together over 175 members from the UN family, civil society, academia and the private sector.

All Coalition members are encouraged to make a pledge to safeguard learners' personal information, privacy, and security.

In response to COVID-19, the Azerbaijani government has also expressed its support for UNESCO's education project.

As part of the agreement signed last December, Azerbaijan will contribute $1 million to support the scaling-up and sustainability of activities across the coalition's three flagships – teachers, connectivity, and gender issues.

This new partnership will support the ongoing capacity development of one million teacher trainers, teachers, and education community leaders over the next two years through the Global Teachers Campus' digital skills and blended learning projects.

Azerbaijan's contribution will also help the Global Skills Academy expand its activities.

The Global Skills Academy (GSA) seeks to assist young people and adults in developing employability and resilience skills by providing free online training in response to the growing consequences of COVID-19.

Through the Global Learning House, the academy is also working to provide learning opportunities and remediation to one million learners, focusing on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).

Notably, Azerbaijan and UNESCO have fruitful educational cooperation.

UNESCO has included Azerbaijan's educational platform on its list.

The organization’s website has presented a list of distance learning platforms, e-websites, and educational applications to help students learn in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNESCO included the educational platform used in Azerbaijan during the pandemic into the list. The list also featured the nationwide Polyup platform for developing math and counting skills.

The Education Ministry launched a virtual school project following the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The project aims to improve the interactivity of the Education Ministry's television lessons and to expand the opportunities for distance learning in general.

The "Virtual School" project is being carried out as part of a collaboration between the Education Ministry and the "Microsoft" corporation.

At the same time, the portal allows teachers to conduct virtual lessons.

On the Culture and ARB Gunesh channels, the Education Ministry broadcasts TV lessons for students in general education institutions. The TV lessons cover all classes and most subjects and are delivered on a set schedule for both the Azerbaijani and Russian sections.

Once a week, the TV lessons are also broadcast live, allowing subject teachers to answer students' questions about this or that topic directly from the film studio and provide any additional explanations that are required.