The most powerful weapons

I read that a recent study by Save the Children shows that due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in lower-income countries, schoolchildren have lost 66% of school days more than their peers in richer countries, and girls also lost 22% more total school days than boys. Bad news. For this reason, the leaders of the 7 most powerful economies in the world met last June and adopted the "Girls' Education Declaration" announcing the allocation of 700 million euros to guarantee access to education for 40 million more girls. . And in July, in London, at the Global Education Summit, the European Union and its member states pledged 1.7 billion euros to restart school for 175 million children who have interrupted it, and to bring school to 88. millions of boys and girls who have never attended it. A good news.

It is evident in fact that schooling is one of the most important means of emancipation and human and social development in any part of the world. And how are things in Italy? Not very well, judging by the data that always emerged in the “Save the Children” report. In fact, it appears that during the pandemic there has been a net deterioration in school learning in our country and that the percentage of students who at the end of their training course do not reach the sufficiency in Italian, mathematics and English has increased from 7 to 9, 5%. And other research shows in the post-pandemic period an 87% drop in students' motivation to learn, lost in the months of school's hiccup. But such targeted studies and stringent numerical data are not essential to notice the phenomenon either: just listen carefully to the observations and repeated complaints of many teachers and parents.

Today's kids are more and more ignorant, they no longer deepen anything, they don't know how to reflect, they are no longer able to read a text of medium complexity and understand its content, they are no longer able to write correct sentences and understandable, they use very few words, they are expressed only through messages, they do not know what a logical reasoning is, they do not have a minimum of scientific education and therefore they believe uncritically in the mountains of fake news spread by social media, they experience school only as a condemnation … and so on. Of course, in these words there are often exaggerations and too many improper generalizations: in fact, not all the students of today respond to these descriptions, fortunately. But certainly the concern and alarm recently raised by those who live and work in the school world should not be underestimated. And it must be reiterated in every way that culture is an extra gear for anyone and a wealth for the whole world.

Do you remember Malala Yousafzai (pictured) , the 13-year-old Pakistani student who escaped a 2012 Taliban attack while traveling on the bus that was taking her to school? After being welcomed into the UN General Assembly and being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she still fights today in a particular way for the right of women to education. Here is a slogan of her: «Let's take our books and our pens in hand. They are the most powerful weapons. A child, a teacher, a book and a pen can change the world ».


Gabriella Delpero
NP November 2021