疫情之下，他们的“上学路”更加艰难……

6月23日，联合国教科文组织发布了一份题为《包容与教育：全民覆盖，缺一不可》的全球教育监测报告。报告指出，贫困、性别、种族等是导致全球教育不平等的主要因素，而新冠肺炎的全球大流行正在加剧教育不平等现象。

About 17 percent of children globally are not in school, whether because of poverty, gender, race, disability or a myriad other factors and despite international pledges to tackle such inequalities, according to a new UNESCO report. And with the COVID-19 epidemic closing schools and forcing children to learn away from the classroom, these problems are likely to get worse.

Global inequalities remain

依然存在的教育不平等

Afghan refugee schoolgirls leave their school in the Kabobayan refugee camp, Peshawar, Pakistan, February 13, 2020. /AP

根据联合国教科文组织的报告，全球约有2.58亿儿童和青少年处于失学状态，这约占全球学龄人口的17%。虽然自上世界90年代以来，全球失学儿童数量在稳步下降，但地区间的教育不平衡状态依然存在。在这些失学儿童中，约有31%来自撒哈拉以南非洲地区。相比之下，欧洲和北美洲仅占3%。

Worldwide, some 258 million children and adolescents, or about 17 percent of the total, are not in school, according to UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, released on Tuesday, which this year focused on inclusion in education.

The total number has dropped steadily since the 1990s but still hides broad inequalities, with 31 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa out of school, compared to 3 percent in Europe and North America.

Behind these imbalances were the usual suspects.

报告指出了造成全球教育不平等的一些原因：

• 贫困：在高收入国家和中高收入国家，几乎所有的儿童都能完成小学教育，超过84%的儿童能完成初中教育；而在低收入国家，这两项数据仅为56%和28%。在中低收入国家，最富裕家庭的青少年完成初中教育的概率是最贫困家庭同龄人的3倍。 

• 性别：除了贫困外，性别也是影响青少年能否受教育的一大因素。在巴基斯坦、海地、巴布亚新几内亚以及一些撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲国家，几乎没有来自贫困农村地区的女童能够完成高中教育。

• 种族：在一些中欧和东欧国家，罗姆族儿童被主流学校“拒之门外”，只能接受特殊教育；在拉丁美洲，非裔族群青少年入学或完成中学教育的比例要明显低于其他族裔，而在教材中也包含着对这一族群的刻板印象和歧视性内容。

• 残疾：全球有25%的国家要求残疾儿童在特殊学校接受教育，在拉丁美洲和亚洲的比例更是高达40%以上。教科文组织指出这样的 “教育隔离”制度，一定程度上加剧了歧视、疏远和先入为主的刻板观念。家长的偏见也影响了包容性教育的实施，比如一些家长担心残疾儿童会干扰其他同班孩子的学习。

• 其他形式的歧视：在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区，一些患有白化病的儿童因疾病受到歧视而无法接受教育；在一些海湾国家，部分国籍不受承认的儿童无法就读公立学校；在经合组织成员国中，三分之二具有移民背景的学生只能就读于以移民学生为主的学校。

Wealth: While almost all students in high- and upper-middle-income countries completed primary school and more than 84 percent finished lower secondary school, in low-income countries the numbers were just around 56 and 28 percent, the GEM report found.

Even just in low- and middle-income countries, teenagers from the richest 20 percent of households were three times more likely to finish high school than those from the poorest 20 percent, the report noted.

Gender: Girls continue to be disadvantaged when it comes to education, especially when combined with poverty. A sample of 20 countries – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also including Pakistan, Haiti and Papua New Guinea – found that while the number of girls who completed high school was already low, it dropped to near zero if they were poor and from a rural community.

Race, ethnicity: Studies have found Roma children in Europe were disproportionately diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and sent to special schools, where they were taught a simplified curriculum. In Latin America, Afro-descendants, whose ancestors were brought over as slaves, were less likely to attend school or finish high school than non-Afro-descendants, with stereotypes and racism even included in learning materials. 

Disability: Children with disabilities were "particularly at risk of exclusion from education," the GEM report noted. In about 25 percent of countries, laws called for them to be educated in separate facilities, rather than integrated in the school system. In Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, over 40 percent of countries had such policies. The report also cited examples of parents in well-off societies who said they feared their child would fall behind if placed in the same class as a child with disabilities.

Mina Godfrey, a 17-year-old girl with albinism, attends class at the Nsanjama 2 Private Primary School in Zomba, Malawi, February 10, 2020. /AP

Other forms of discrimination: In sub-Saharan Africa, the report noted that children with albinism, who may have poor eyesight, got little support and many failed to complete primary school, with some teachers reportedly even afraid to teach them. In some Gulf states, stateless children, who have no recognized nationality, cannot enroll in public schools. 

Meanwhile, in OECD countries, two thirds of immigrant students went to schools where the majority of pupils were also immigrants, often resulting in non-immigrant parents moving their children elsewhere.

The impact of COVID-19

新冠肺炎导致教育不平等加剧

Pupils, wearing protective masks, attend courses in at the Merlan school of Paillet during the reopening of schools, as the lockdown due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is eased, in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire May 25, 2020. /Reuters

随着新冠肺炎这一全球性公共卫生危机的到来，教育不平等也在进一步加剧。

疫情导致的停课停学，给教师、学生和家长带来了新的挑战；而对于那些本就处于教育劣势青少年来说，疫情让他们的“上学路”变得更为艰难。

疫情之下，首先暴露的是“数字鸿沟”。为了保障“停课不停学”，很多国家通过网络课程和远程教育来保证教学活动的开展。然而，身处贫穷、落后国家和地区的青少年因为通讯技术落后、网络不发达、买不起移动设备等诸多因素无法接受远程教育。

A visually impaired girl reads a Braille description at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. /Reuters

对于那些身有残疾或是患有疾病的儿童来说，在疫情期间参加教学活动也是“难上加难”。比如，疫情改变了原有的生活节奏，部分自闭症儿童可能一时之间难以适应；听障或视障儿童很难找到适合自己的网络课程；一些患有注意缺陷多动障碍的儿童，可能在疫情期间的教学活动中承受着更大的压力。

The current pandemic has only made things worse. Around the world, school closures have created new challenges for teachers, students and parents. But for at-risk students, the virus has compounded existing issues.

Among other things, it has highlighted the digital divide. Only about 12 percent of households in the least developed countries have access to the internet at home. Even in OECD countries, five percent of all students, and 10 percent of those in disadvantaged schools, do not have a home internet connection. 

Low-income countries have resorted instead to radio and television broadcasts to assist learning, but even there, only a fraction of the poorest households own an apparatus – such as in Ethiopia, Nepal, Yemen or Guatemala.

Several studies have shown children from low-income families struggling to find time and a quiet place to study, or to get help from parents and relatives with little education themselves.

Sarah Marton, para-professional at Niles Township District for Special Education, left, talks with her son Cooper, while he does school work on his computer at his home in Chicago, March 17, 2020. /AP

Meanwhile, students with disabilities have faced additional challenges. Those with autism spectrum disorders, who rely on routine, have seen their lives turned upside down. Blind or deaf students may not be able to use online resources. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will struggle to learn on their own. 

"The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the issue is not just about technical solutions to tackle the digital divide. Although distance learning has captured many headlines, only a minority of countries have the basic infrastructure to focus on the pedagogical challenges of online approaches to teaching and learning," the GEM report noted.

What the epidemic has done is precipitate an "education crisis." The inequalities mentioned in the report "have long existed, (but) many were obscured in classrooms. Lockdowns and school closures suddenly brought them into sharp relief."

"Overall, the setback on learning is expected to be considerable," it predicted.

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