The United Kingdom is hit hard by COVID-19. As on the 20th January, there were 91,470 deaths throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom is also in its third lockdown since the pandemic arrived on its shores. And currently, all educational institutions are formally closed and all children, with the exception of those of key workers, are ‘out-of-school’. The majority of children are learning via online platforms.
Sharon’s Story
ADRA-UK spoke to Sharon, Financial Controller, about the challenges that she and her 13 year old son face in this covid lockdown:
‘This lockdown has forced many schools to increase their online learning capabilities. Many schools struggle to provide these in adequate measure. This poses challenges to students and parents alike. From duplicate work being loaded on different platforms, to work being missed as the student has only checked one of the platforms being used, to students not being included in online lesson because their request to join was mistakenly overlooked by a teacher.
Parents are trying to assist with homeschooling their children, while also carrying on with their own work, as well as the day to day running of a household. There are inevitably things that will be dropped. For some, this will be school work.
Personally, I feel guilty every day that I can’t give my son the help that he needs with his school work, as I have a job that I am paid to do and expected to perform to a certain standard. We are fortunate that my husband and I are able to provide the technology for our son to access his online classes but for those who aren’t so fortunate, this is another stress to add to an already incredibly stressful time.
Some schools have the resources to provide tech to these kids but I know our school certainly doesn’t.’
As part of its ongoing advocacy work world-wide, one of ADRA’s impact areas is education. The second phase of our Every Child. Everywhere. In School. This initiative, (in partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church) will mobilise governments throughout the world to influence positive change so that every child can have access to education, during and after the pandemic.
Beautine’s* Experience
The E5 Mother and Baby Bank, (currently supported by ADRA-UK’s, I AM Urban initiative) is currently working with 220 families in East London. Most of these families are on either on low incomes or are refugees.
Currently, there are 50 children who have nothing. No access to technology and subsequently, no access to education via online platforms. Fiona, an IT technician and a volunteer at the the Mother and Baby Bank is collecting disused laptops, wiping the data and providing these children with equipment to assist them to access virtual learning.
ADRA-UK is providing help and support to several hubs throughout the country to assist with providing technology to support the education of children who need to learn on virtual platforms.
*Beautine is a founder of the E5 Mother and baby Bank in UK.
