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Countries need to invest more and better in education and training as part of their COVID-19 fiscal response to support early and sustainable economic recovery and yield longer-term benefits.

A UNESCO webinar Investing in Education and Training in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond, held on 2 December 2020, examined country experiences on fiscal response to education in the face of COVID-19, as well as the roles of international organizations and public-private partnerships in meeting the financial commitment outlined in the Declaration of the Global Education Meeting. 

Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education and Roberto Jenkins, UNICEF’s Education Chief, emphasized the importance of protecting education spending to make it a real driver for society and economy. According to UNESCO’s recent work (. No. 10, Working Papers on Education Policy, October 2020), while governments worldwide have invested US$12 trillion in fiscal response to the pandemic, education has been largely invisible in high-stake decision making, receiving a mere 0.78% (or US$91 billion) in stimulus packages worldwide.

The first session focused on several country experiences. The Republic of Korea pursued four rounds of supplementary budget proposals to set aside funds towards schools, institutions, childcare services, and remote learning to create infrastructure and content for digital learning (both in person and online learning). South Africa had to reprioritize education budget to fund the provision of health and sanitary supplies, such as PPE masks, and disinfectants.  Saudi Arabia dedicated US$51.5 billion to the education sector to support efforts such as developing new educational platforms, research projects, and blended learning programmes. Out of the total package of 49 billion euros in the Netherlands, 3% is dedicated to education to provide immediate support, though this may not be sustainable as a long-term solution. Relevant actors have agreed to increase investment or at the least not cut budget for education.  

The second session focused on the role of international organizations and public-private partnerships. The IMF emphasized that countries should focus on sustainable economic growth, strengthening macroeconomic management and tackling spending inefficiencies by being innovative, and focusing on the marginalized groups. OECD stated that there was a massive decline in job openings and few of these openings were for unskilled jobs in sectors such as guards, cashiers, delivery etc. The focus should be transforming skills to jobs through training and making sure that the labour market does not leave anyone behind.

Microsoft addressed the impact of COVID-19 on tech skills, stating that though there is a need for highly trained experts in tech, new hiring has gone down.  Moreover, there has been a big acceleration of technological needs in normally non-technical sectors.  Ericsson advocated the power of public-private partnerships to address the digital divide, and shared information on its increased engagement in education in two UN-led initiatives and its active role in UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition to foster the development of open platforms and affordable access to distance learning. 

In the context of COVID-19, UNESCO advocates for protecting, even increasing investment in education in the world, for its inherent value as a human right but also as a strategy for an effective and sustainable economic recovery. Countries are now in the process of shifting to the recovery phase to boost employment and economic activities, as well as to facilitate transition into a post-pandemic economy. UNESCO will continue to update and monitor the situation of national fiscal response to the education and training sector as it evolves.