Education in a Time of Coronavirus

Elizabeth Pennington is Communications Officer for Yesterday – Today - Tomorrow and a freelance Journalist. She plans to study a Masters Degree in International Development next year, with a focus on Education in Emergencies and War Crime.

*Names have been changed to protect the individuals’ identities.

When the first COVID-19 cases were announced last year, few expected such a Tsunami-like wave to follow. Now, almost ten months on, with approximately 30 million cases worldwide, and rising, in a WHO declared Pandemic, it is crucial that we do not ignore one of the most pressing global issues: children’s access to education.

In a recent campaign, Keeping Girls in the Picture, led by UNESCO, the pandemic could mean almost 11 million girls may never return to education. This places them at even greater risk of early child marriage and gender violence.

As the Communications Officer for a Global Education NGO, Yesterday- Today-Tomorrow (YTT), based in Paris, our team have seen firsthand the impact losing education has on a child’s well-being. Collectively, we have worked in over 40 refugee/migrant camps, centres and squats in over ten countries in Europe and North Africa, with hopes to expand further into conflict areas, where girls are at particular risk.

Since 2016, our research has led us to develop a Learning through Art & Theatre Approach focusing in two key areas: working in and for child/ youth populations in emergency situations, designing psychosocial support, children’s-rights and peace/capacity building programs and working within the formal school structure, were our programs promote inclusion, diversity and the reduction of prejudice/racism for children and teachers. These programs, in line with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, are adaptable to the local needs of the refugee, migrant and/or displaced populations.

Through our psychosocial support workshops, participants are invited to draw their past (Yesterday), their present (Today) and their future lives (Tomorrow). These drawings, collected from thousands of individuals since 2016, aged between 2-70 years old, have allowed us to create our visual database, sharing their stories, irrespective of one’s spoken language.

Our organisation’s Founder, Bryan Mc Cormack said: “With COVID, it is the most fragile populations that are the most affected. (...) Refugee education is or at least should be a priority for the world for the simple reason that having over 70 million refugee/displaced persons, the majority of whom are children, means that we are talking about an enormous percentage of humanity. (...) humanity is everyone’s responsibility.”

Reflecting on the educational impact, I am reminded of a 14 year old Afghan refugee, Amal* who we met in Serbia in 2018. Now 16 and in Germany, she wants to become an author. Through her drawing, she explained how she uses her love of learning to block negativity in her life.

Or Malek*, a nine-year-old Iraqi-Kurdistan refugee, too young to fully understand her trauma, yet articulate enough to explain how she returned from Church to find her family decapitated by ISIS, their bodies hung from a hook on the tree in the garden of their Mosul home.

Now 11 and fluent in four languages, Malek wants to become a doctor, win a Nobel Peace Prize and help her community recover after ISIS occupation.

Malek, like so many young refugees I have met, is not allowing their past to define their future.

As a human right, every child must have the opportunity to engage in education. I believe that education changes lives and saves lives. There is still a grave misunderstanding about who refugees are. At Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow, I hope we can be a small part of the larger conversation on inclusive education for refugee and migrant children and for education in emergencies worldwide.

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Elizabeth Pennington • March 17, 2021

An Education Revolution

By Ann Beatty • April 6, 2025

This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us.

Sparks Bristol

By Ann Beatty • April 4, 2025

Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.

Spring is Here! Looking Ahead!

By Ann Beatty • March 28, 2025

Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.