SaharGamal
Ms.Gamal
Independent Member, Egypt.
CSW65 Parallel Event: Mock Trial: Women and Girls' Empowerment through Responsive Quality Education, Tuesday, 16 March 2021.
Graduate Women International (GWI).
The girl child, Women and the economy, Human rights of women, Education and training of women, Violence against women, Women and poverty
SDG4 – Quality Education, SDG5 – Gender Equality, SDG8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality, SDG17 – Partnerships to achieve the Goal
Bullying (2016), Child Marriage (2016), Diversity in Teacher Education (2019), Women and STEM (2019)
GWI's NFAs, in general, followed their national restriction rules and were obliged to resort to digital educational platforms to cope with the current pandemic situation and the lockdown of all educational institutions. This necessitated that all teachers, as well as students, needed to be ICT literate. Realizing this fact, as a GWI independent member, and benefiting from my own personal experience, I have volunteered to give courses on Basic ICT Literacy Skills. As an educator of university level female students, I have been training my students on how to maximize their benefit from our online classes. I have also facilitated their communication with the IT technical support personnel to solve the problems they encounter.
The session was another one of GWI's very successful Mock Trials. Participants debated two statements. The first one was about E-learning and digitalization being the one and only solution to decrease inequalities and ensure inclusion. The second was about schools providing IT home based education by trained teachers, while redirecting their functions to be places for practical subjects, social interaction and extra-curricular activities. Participants agreed on the inevitability of e-learning during crisis situations such pandemics and conflicts areas. They also agreed on its benefit in areas that lack schools. Yet, they disagreed that either one of the statements could be the one and only solution. The first statement raised concerns about mothers having to leave their jobs, and thus their financial independence, to monitor their younger children while being home schooled. Another concern was the deprivation of less advantaged students from the in-person services provided by schools such as medical attention, meals and physical exercises. Yet, the most pressing concern was that abuse and domestic violence might prevail unnoticed by the different authorities. The second statement raised a concern about digitalization of education that might lead to teachers losing their jobs as fewer ones will be needed to address many more students through the digital platforms. Another concern was that students, especially younger ones, might be negatively affected as far as socialization and human interacting are concerned. Participants weighed advantages and disadvantages of both statements and reached out a conclusion that generalization is not appropriate and that each situation should be studied within its context. What might be the solution to one problem might be the cause of another.
The lively interaction forced each party to consider the limitations of their choice and the possibilities presented by the other party. They shared personal and national experiences that might be modified and used by each others depending on the context.
GWI, through its NFAs, can further investigate the impact of e-learning on the different educational stages, including informal education, and share the findings with UN Women. This could take the form of a case study and requires collaboration with sample educational institutions, as well as IT providers.
