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. 

Photo - 
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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