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MOSCOW, April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

What has changed in society in the last year, since all nurseries, schools, and

universities in 192 countries were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

According to data from the World Bank, it has affected more than 90% of all

pupils and students in the world: almost 1.6 billion children of various ages.

Investment into education has decreased. As Mathieu Brossard, Chief of

Education of UNICEF's Office of Research-Innocenti, recently stated at the

EdHeroes Forum ( https://edheroes.family/ ), 75% of pupils in the world are not

getting the education that they did previously, due to a lack of internet or

electricity. The social and economic consequences will be long lasting: a

reduction in the quality and availability of education, productivity, and

salaries.

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A societal trend has been developing in response to this situation: a cohort of

new EdHeroes is emerging and growing. These are active people from various

professions who are getting involved in the field of education "from outside"

in order to improve the quality thereof and to make it accessible to more

children.

"The pandemic has resulted in mass disruption the world over and none so more

than in education. The chaos that has ensued provides us an opportunity to

reimagine how we can equip ourselves to ensure that every learner achieves

their potential, and it is this goal that is galvanizing a wide array of people

from diverse backgrounds to contribute to this goal, and has a huge potential

to lead us to embracing the good that will come out of this hugely challenging

time", -- says Vikas Pota, T4 Education Founder.

Trend 1. Entrepreneurs are getting involved in education Evgeny Gordeev, a

managing partner of the Breffi communications agency, has launched a "Grateful

Graduates" initiative in the school where he studied in the small Russian town

of Pyatigorsk. He is arranging for pupils to meet people who might become their

role models and inspire them at a time when motivation and the quality of

education are declining. He has also launched a prize entitled "Teachers Are

the Heart of Schools", whereby graduates vote for the teachers who had the

greatest influence on them. These graduates set up a prize fund out of their

own pockets. Gordeev intends to create a social franchise so that graduates

from any school can establish one of these prizes. The "Teachers Are the Heart

of Schools" prize was first awarded in March 2021 via an initiative that was

conceived by Igor Rybakov, entrepreneur and founder of the Rybakov Foundation (

https://rybakovfoundation.org/ ), who set up an endowment fund of $1 million in

his old school in Magnitogorsk. A prize fund was allocated out of the endowment

fund.

Trend 2. Fundraising campaigns that mitigate the technological disparity when

it comes to access to education, a gap that the pandemic has only widened. For

example, over 46,000 devices were donated, and a further 70,000 devices were

pledged by businesses as part of the BBC's "Make a Difference, Give a Laptop"

campaign. A further Pounds 917,890 has been donated to charities and schools

from local businesses, trusts, individuals, and foundations, and 2,000 items of

data support have been donated as a result of the campaign.

3. Educators are stepping out from the role of just being teachers and are

creating large-scale educational projects. They have been able to substantially

mitigate the negative impact that the pandemic has had on local communities.

After 7 years of coordinating educational programs for children, one of the

winners of the Rybakov Preschool Award (

https://rybakovpreschoolaward.org/?utm_source=rf_en_website ), Adina Elena

Benghea from Romania founded STURZ Research and Development Center for Family

Education to popularize psychomotor development of children. In 2020 she

launched the Psychomotor education online program helping parents and teachers

to answer emotional, physical and cognitive challenges that children are facing

during these difficult times. "I observe an increasing interest in education

from entrepreneurs and individuals. Somehow, moving online brought us better

together, to put our resources easily at the use of a bigger common goal".

For more information, please send an email to: pr@rybakovfoundation.org

SOURCE: Rybakov Family Foundation