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Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO took initiatives to support Member States in their efforts to mitigate the immediate impact of school closures, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. School closures widen learning inequalities and disproportionately impacted vulnerable children and youth, including indigenous peoples.

Although internet coverage has been rapidly spreading in recent decades, the coverage rate is still only 58.7%, with 3.2 billion people lacking access worldwide as of December 2019. Many of these people live in rural and mountainous areas that are difficult to access or are in urban areas in extreme poverty.

What is UNESCO doing to ensure learning for indigenous peoples?

• UNESCO started the in March 2020 and took several initiatives to address this unprecedented learning crisis. It launched the to support countries in scaling up their best distance learning practices and reaching children and youth who are most at risk.

• UNESCO designed a repository of to support the continuity of curriculum-based study. Some examples of specific COVID-19 related actions focusing on indigenous peoples are taken on in New Zealand where universal accessibility to curricular courses (i.e. language considerations in TV channels in English and Māori) is tackled (See ). In Canada, the offers free access to some of the same educational resources used in schools. With a current focus on getting Inuktitut resources out to families.

• 91�鶹������Ʒ���� made available dedicated webpages for COVID-19 responses at regional level, including for where 91�鶹������Ʒ���� recognized the call of indigenous organizations for a rights-based approach to coping with the pandemic in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UNESCO is advocating for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge and culture in the design and implementation of initiatives to protect the population, improved connectivity and access to mobile devices in rural and remote communities to pursue distance and online education; as well as learning materials and information about COVID-19 in indigenous languages.

• UNESCO’s office in Lima has supported various measures taken in the educational sphere to remedy the suspension of face-to-face academic activities. The programme offers educational content to all students in formal education, using digital media, television and radio. The content is developed in 10 indigenous languages, as well as in sign language.

• UNESCO prepared the , which aims at addressing the reopening of schools with attention to be paid to learners from vulnerable backgrounds, including learners from indigenous communities. The reopening of schools entails a number of challenges such as prioritizing target groups (e.g. based on socio-economic background, education level, etc.),  determining the school calendar, organizing the teaching and learning processes while maintaining physical social distancing, managing absenteeism and dropouts, responding to special needs groups, implementing sanitary measures, etc.

More on UNESCO’s

• UNESCO Indigenous Peoples Bulletin
  (August 2020)