Leveraging Information and Communication Technology as an enabler for the education sector, including in times of pandemic

144th IPU Assembly
Nusa Dua, Indonesia
20-24 March 2022
E
#IPU144
Leveraging Information and Communication Technology
as an enabler for the education sector,
including in times of pandemic
Resolution adopted unanimously by the 144th IPU Assembly
(Nusa Dua, 24 March 2022)
The 144th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Welcoming Sustainable Development Goal 4, the Incheon Declaration and
the United Nations Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation that all
recognize the importance of equitable access to information and communication
technology (ICT) in education,
Encouraging the use of ICT to support, enhance and optimize the delivery of
information to create new teaching methods and improve learning results while paying
attention to challenges in terms of human rights, equity and inclusion, security and
privacy, infrastructure, connectivity and the financing of expensive digital capacities,
Recognizing the fact that the world had been facing a global learning crisis
long before the COVID-19 pandemic started,
Aware that, according to the Institute for Statistics of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in 2016, over 600 million
children and adolescents were estimated to be not reaching minimum proficiency levels
in reading and mathematics, and that an estimated 53 per cent of children in low- and
middle-income countries cannot read proficiently by age 10, a phenomenon the World
Bank defined as “Learning Poverty”,
Welcoming the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) call to address
the learning crisis and urgently increase finance for education for children, with special
attention to the disadvantaged and marginalized – children living with disabilities, migrant
and refugee children, and children in remote areas,
Highlighting Sustainable Development Goal 10 and the fact that the
COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated gaps between rural and urban areas, with a critical
impact on the education of children, especially the disadvantaged ones, and that Africa
and Asia account for nearly two-thirds of the 463 million school children unable to access
remote learning,
Noting that learning is the right of every child,
Bearing in mind that remote learning can open up vast opportunities in
bridging disparities between urban and remote areas, by bringing new applications to
classrooms, as well as by reaching out to families in times of pandemic, but that it can
also expose children to a myriad of risks including cyberbullying, and online abuse and
exploitation,
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Welcoming technological development that creates more opportunities with smaller and
more effective devices, more inventive applications, and more interactive solutions,
Acknowledging that digitalization is pivotal in accelerating the achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but aware that unequal access to broadband internet can
deepen inequalities between and within countries, between the poorest and richest households,
women and men, girls and boys, and among different communities, including indigenous communities,
in rural, remote and urban areas,
Welcoming the efforts of the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed
Countries to help low-income countries build their science, technology and innovation capacity,
Noting that in-person social interactions are important to children and adolescents,
Acknowledging that countries come from very different starting points in terms of their
capacity to acquire technological devices and in terms of teaching staff, and emphasizing the
importance of stakeholders, including the international community, to provide adequate capacity-
building and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms to developing countries, particularly the
least developed countries,
Reminding parliaments and governments that, according to the estimates of UNICEF,
every dollar invested in increasing enrolment in pre-primary education returns US$ 4 to 9 in benefits to
society,
Recognizing that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
affirms the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples and their right to their own language, culture and
religion, and that the realization of these rights must be supported by education systems and
institutions that reflect their cultural methods of teaching and learning,
Noting that remote learning requires more self-discipline from pupils and their families,
the lack of which is a major contributing factor to the digital divide between pupils,
Stressing that digital and remote learning can never fully replace in-person learning as
vocational teaching in many fields requires in-person learning on site,
Recognizing the critical role of the private sector in ICT infrastructure, content and
services, and also the importance of public-private partnerships and other approaches to that end,
Recognizing also that realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
will make a crucial contribution to advancement of all the SDGs, and emphasizing the need to promote
and target iSTEAM-subjects (Innovation, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) to narrow
the gender digital divide,
1. Stresses that device access (computers, laptops, mobile phones and others), digital
literacy and skills, and affordable and well-functioning internet connections are the basis
of an infrastructure necessary to leverage ICT as an enabler for the education sector;
2. Underlines that the pedagogical skills and ICT literacy of teachers and assisting staff are
of key importance in all learning, including in the use of ICT devices and applications, and
in teaching methods that support the introduction of ICT skills, and therefore that
learners, teachers and assisting staff’s ICT skills require constant updating and training;
3. Calls for teachers’ ICT skills to be constantly improved and developed to adapt to new
information technology to effectively apply and unlock its full benefits, including to
maximize the quality of behavioural learning during the digital education process;
4. Calls upon parliaments and governments to pass necessary legislation on adequate
support and needed infrastructure to enable effective ICT training of teachers and digital
solutions to be part of curricula in their countries based on their national digital situations,
while bearing in mind that funding for learning conditions and more basic teaching
equipment should not be compromised;
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5. Welcomes holistic thinking to create ecosystems which integrate ICT, digital content and
digital skills with the capacities of teachers and policy makers to build resilient education
systems;
6. Emphasizes that hybrid teaching arrangements, including both in-person and remote
learning, significantly increase the workload of teachers, which must be taken into
consideration when compensating the salary and benefits of the teaching staff, and that
sufficient measures must be taken to avoid overburdening teachers;
7. Calls for parliaments to encourage their respective governments to develop effective tools
for tackling all forms of online security risk, harassment and bullying, and legal
frameworks for zero-tolerance policies against such offences to create a safe and non-
discriminatory learning environment;
8. Stresses the importance of evaluating and monitoring of education results as one of the
cornerstones of measuring the success of education policies and teaching methods;
9. Encourages governments to keep the number of pupils in classes small if necessary to
curb the spread of pandemics, and to ensure efficient teaching and learning processes;
10. Emphasizes the key role of families in supporting children, especially in the early stages
of education, in learning, both in the learning process itself and in understanding the
importance of education;
11. Stresses that digital and remote learning can never fully replace in-person learning as
vocational teaching in many fields requires in-person learning on site, but also that there
are demonstrable benefits to remote learning for students for whom in-person learning on
site is problematic and that it is therefore important to recognize the benefits of remote
learning to engage these students;
12. Urges parliaments to pay special attention to equity, language, local content and
accessibility, particularly for persons living with disability, when legislating in the
education sector, including in the use of ICT;
13 Also urges governments and the private sector to work together to remove technological
barriers by investing in digital infrastructure and lowering connectivity and device costs,
and to support open educational resources and open digital access;
14 Invites parliaments and governments to support the United Nations Technology Bank for
Least Developed Countries in its efforts to bridge the digital divide;
15. Underlines that women are a large, untapped learning resource as women and girls are
often prevented from using ICT and particularly the internet, and, at the same time, that
educated women have a great impact on societal development by contributing to more
stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men and
marginalized citizens – the opportunity to fulfil their potential;
16. Calls upon parliaments and governments to ensure policies and resources allocated to
encourage the use of ICT in education and ICT-related training and employment serve to
empower women and girls, including by setting targets, quotas and other positive
measures;
17. Encourages governments to include in their development cooperation programmes
assistance in technology transfer in the education sector and support in teacher training
to empower students to learn from practical experiences and motivate creative and
innovative mindsets;
18. Also encourages governments to invest more in ICT learning, research, development and
innovation, which are an essential cornerstone in modern human resource development;
19. Further encourages governments to provide vitally important support functions, such as
free meals in schools, because well-nourished pupils can concentrate better and get
better learning results, and also because free meals in schools can be an added incentive
especially to poorer families for sending their children to school;
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20. Invites governments to engage the youth in the development of plans and strategies in
the short and medium term, to chart the obstacles that may arise, and to look for new
opportunities in introducing ICT in education;
21. Invites parliaments and governments to look into possible partnerships with United
Nations organizations such as UNESCO and UNICEF, as well as industries and
businesses, to accelerate the use of ICT in the post-pandemic education system;
22. Encourages, in federated and decentralized states where education may be a
responsibility shared by more than one level of government, the various legislative and
executive bodies to find ways to collaborate on the measures and initiatives highlighted in
the present resolution;
23. Emphasizes the importance of sustainable digital skills and digital literacies in narrowing
the digital divide and enhancing inclusion to empower students and build a modern,
interactive and flexible learning environment for a better tomorrow;
24. Calls upon parliaments to enact legislation and standards that regulate the process of
remote education and e-learning, including the recognition and adoption of certificates at
all levels;
25. Calls upon parliaments and governments not to compromise or reduce budgets for
education, including e-learning, and to share good strategies and practices to support the
key role of the educational system for the state and all members of society.