Activities of Bettina VOLLATH related to 2021/2209(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
EU strategy to promote education for children in the world (short presentation)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT Towards an EU strategy to promote education for children in the world: mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Amendments (23)
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas almost five million people globally have died because of the COVID- 19 pandemic, prompting governments all over the world to enact extraordinary measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including closing schools and limiting access to educational facilities; whereas there are other crises, such as the climate crisis, which still need to be addressed;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas since March 2020, around 194 countries have closed schools nationwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting more than 1.8 billion school learners globally and cutting off their access to education and to other vital benefits that schools provide; whereas one third of children globally do not have access to the internet and digital learning and teaching methods;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas an estimated additional 825 million children will not reach adulthood with the secondary-level skills they need for work and life by 2030; whereas millions of children and young people who regularly attended schools are not developing the skills they need to get a job, start a business and contribute to their communities; whereas millions of children are deprived of desirable future prospects;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas school closures have a large economic impact as they prevent children and youth from developing necessary skills and accessing higher and/or tertiary education, which leads to them entering the labour market upon completion of their education without the required skills, giving rise to learning losses and and with fewer opportunities, frequently giving rise to unemployment and hence increases in inequality;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas school closures have a significant social and psychological impact – since children have less contact and interaction with their peers – and also undermine the right to education;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas it is estimated that school closures during crises may lead to increases in teenage pregnancy of as much as 65 %6; whereas girls out of school are disproportionally exposed to the risk of child marriage; whereas it is estimated that one million girls in Sub-Saharan Africa may be blocked from returning to schools once they reopen given the existence of certain policies that ban pregnant girls and young mothers from school; whereas out- of-school children are at a higher risk of domestic violence; _________________ 6World Vision (2020), COVID-19 Aftershocks: Access Denied .
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas according to several national and regional law enforcement authorities, children out of school – in particular girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as children of minorities, children with disabilities and children in care and children who have lost their parents and grandparents as a result of the pandemic, among others – are disproportionally vulnerable to exploitation, child labour and domestic violence, including the witnessing of violence, online bullying and other crimes such as sexual exploitation and abuse7; _________________ 7Press release of 19 June 2020 by Europol entitled ‘Exploiting Isolation: Sexual Predators Increasingly Targeting Children during COVID Pandemic’.
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas school closures have been essential to limit the spread of COVID-19, in particular to elderly people and other vulnerable people in contact with children and youth; whereas schools are more than places where children can learn, as they also constitute hubs for mental health and psychosocial support and meeting places; whereas according to UNESCO and UNICEF, school closures do not only affect the right to education but also the right to health, with more than 80 million children missing primary vaccinations as a result of school closures and teachers are not able to notice any particular abnormalities; whereas school closures also impact the right to good nutrition as 304 million children have no access to a daily meal when schools are closed; whereas school closures seriously affect children’s mental wellbeing as children can be exposed to violence and stress in the home; whereas school closures can have psychosocial consequences, including depression and suicide, as children are unable to maintain social contacts;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the importance of giving every child the opportunity to go back to school and calls on the Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in prioritising school reopening in their recovery plans, including support for teachers to help children catch up with lost learning and support for children’s wellbeing, as schools are critical for children’s learning, safety, health, nutrition and overall wellbeing; calls, furthermore, on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support third-country authorities in developing and implementing digital teaching and learning methods and to guarantee publicly funded internet access for all;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Considers that, even during a crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, schools, parents and NGOs need to work closely together and be in constant contact with each other; calls for partnerships to be supported;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Highlights the massive inequity in the fight against the pandemic owing to unequal access to vaccines, resulting in unequal protection capabilities; emphasises that the pandemic can only be brought to an end globally and that vaccines must be accessible to all;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Stresses that there is a mutual interaction between education and poverty and that children from financially weak families have less access to school materials and a balanced diet, both of which are essential for their concentration and social participation; stresses that these disadvantages can lead to lower educational opportunities and, in turn, to poverty through reduced future prospects;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support third-country authorities in ensuring that all children can enjoy their right to free primary education and to take immediate action to ensure that secondary education is available and accessible;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in financing and implementing ‘safe school’ operations, including providing hygiene supplies and sharing information on handwashing and other hygiene measures; highlights, in this regard, the key role that teachers can play in health promotion;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Stresses the importance of sufficient clean water to cope with everyday life, all the more so as a result of the pandemic; Calls for access to sufficient clean water and a healthy diets for children in their homes and in schools to be guaranteed;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in establishing risk mitigation and management plans through resilience planning; highlights the importance of developing and guaranteeing contingency planning and crisis response plans now to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools and to better anticipatminimise the impact of school closures on children, especially on the poorest and most marginalised children; considers the evaluation and monitoring of implementation to be a sine qua non;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to support the authorities of third countries in proactively issuing guidance on best practices in remote learning, and in ensuring that appropriate and safe tools, curricula and technology are used and are made accessible to children from low- income families, marginalised children and children with disabilities or learning difficulties, children in alternative care, and children of indigenous peoples living in remote areas or in environments where they are deprived of liberty or where internet access is not ubiquitous; reiterates the importance of digital learning as a great equaliser that enables educational institutions to reach all children at speed and scale, while at the same time fostering partnerships and working with a wide range of actors from civil society as well as the public and private sectors; stresses, in this regard, that children’s privacy and the protection of personal data must be guaranteed in connection with all digital tools and that due account must be taken of gender-responsive content and the different realities of children’s lives;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to support the governments of third countries in building and further developing stronger gender- responsive education systems;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Stresses the fragility and sensitivity of children and the consequent need for safe spaces for children, a need which already existed before the COVID- 19 pandemic but which was exacerbated by it; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States, as well as the national governments of third countries, to provide psychosocial support and sufficient safe spaces for children, and to inform children about them and to make them easily accessible to children; calls, furthermore, for the establishment of emergency hotlines for children and for them to be widely publicised;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses the importance of including vocational training and ‘second chance programmes’ in the recovery plans to help children and young people enter the labour market; calls on the Commission, the EEAS, the Member States and third countries to generate desirable future prospects for the young generation;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Highlights the importance of preparing and supporting teachers, empowering them to address learning losses among their students to be able to respond to their individual social, family and mental conditions, and to incorporate digital technology into their teaching;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Stresses that children’s rights, and in particular the right to education and the right to health, apply to all children; stresses that there must be no room for unequal treatment and discrimination;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that national governments – and their competent national authorities – must communicate with children in a child-friendly manner to explain the measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 to raise awareness about the impact, risks and threats of COVID-19 and to inform children of their rights;