Culture and Education

© UNICEF/Bullen Chol

Joy in South Sudan, as schools reopen after 14-month COVID lockdown

4 May 2021

The countrywide reopening of schools in South Sudan is a welcome step on the road to “normalcy” for youngsters, two in three of whom need humanitarian assistance, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

© Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Feeling kind of blue? Holocaust survivor lifts lockdown spirits through jazz

30 April 2021
Global

An 89-year-old pianist who escaped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany almost eight decades ago, has been explaining how he started playing jazz in memory of his sister, and has kept going through the COVID-19 lockdown, playing from the window of his Brussels home “to give people courage.”

© UNICEF Moldova

Pandemic cannot become a ‘media extinction event’: UN Secretary-General

28 April 2021
Global

The financial decline of many public interest media organizations worldwide has been among the dangerous side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in remarks to a UN-backed event to boost support for the sector. 

© UNICEF/Brian Sokol

World Book and Copyright Day celebrates ‘fundamental importance’ of literature

23 April 2021
Global

At a period of global uncertainty and confinement, books open the door to freedom, transporting readers beyond time and borders, the head of the UN’s educational and cultural agency, UNESCO, said on Friday. 

ITU/R. Farrell

‘Careers have no gender’, connect girls to tech, for a brighter future UN urges 

22 April 2021
Global

Despite information and communication technology playing such a key role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN chief said that half the world remains offline, in his message marking International Girls in ICT Day, on Thursday – most of whom are women and girls in developing countries. 

© Salah El Din Samir Hareedy & team

Iraq: UNESCO architectural design winners to rebuild iconic Al-Nouri Mosque complex 

15 April 2021
Middle East

Eight Egyptian architects have been awarded the job of restoring the historic Al-Nouri Mosque complex in Mosul, Iraq, the UN cultural chief announced on Thursday. 

UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi

Museums must not be overlooked in pandemic recovery, UNESCO chief warns

13 April 2021
Global

Faced with alarming and extended closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s museums are of “fundamental importance” to reviving cultural life and preserving our shared heritage “in all its diversity”, said the UN cultural agency chief on Tuesday.  

UNESCO/Pornpilin Smithveja

The more you learn, the more you earn: education and poverty alleviation in Thailand

10 April 2021
Asia Pacific

A good education is often seen as a route out of poverty, but many disadvantaged children are unable to finish school. In Thailand, a project involving the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, is linking academic achievement to cash rewards, providing tangible benefits to marginalized families, and helping kids to stay in school.

© UNICEF/Ricardo Franco

Many countries spending more on debt than education, health and social protection combined

1 April 2021

Around one in eight nations spends more on debt than on social services, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched on Thursday, calling for debt service relief and restructuring to enable countries to bounce back from the pandemic.

© UNICEF

100 million more children fail basic reading skills because of COVID-19

26 March 2021
Global

A new study released on Friday by the UN cultural agency, reveals that more than 100 million more children than expected, are falling behind the minimum proficiency level in reading, due to COVID-related school closures.