Webinar: COVID-19 and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) / SDG Target 4.7 in Asia-Pacific

A Webinar was organized by the Korea Association of Human Rights Studies (KAHRS) in partnership with the Asia Development Alliance (ADA) and the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) with the support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on the topic of “COVID-19 and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) / SDG Target 4.7 in Asia-Pacific” at 11.30 am on 18 June 2020.

The webinar addressed topics including the challenges of the COVID-19 to Global Citizenship Education / SDG Target 4.7 in Asia-Pacific, and its in responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asia-Pacific with focus on Education for Sustainable Development and Human Rights.

The speakers for the webinar included:

• Hyun Mook Lim, Director, UNESCO Asia Pacific Center for Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), Seoul, Korea
• Rajesh Tanden, Founder-President, Participatory Research Institute in Asia (PRIA) / UNESCO Chair on Social Responsibilities of Higher Education

The discussants include Jeff Plantilla, Asia Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTs-OSAKA) and Eno Nakamura, Development Education Association and Resource (DEAR), Japan. The session was moderated by Anselmo Lee, Kyunghee University / KAHRS, South Korea.

SDG 4.7 “Global Citizenship Education” aims at “ensuring all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, global citizenship...”. The panellists present during the talk discussed the impact of the current pandemic from the point of view of global dynamics. It was highlighted by each speaker that the pandemic had exposed the inequalities which were previously present in the system. Be it in the availability of basic necessities, the healthcare system or the _.

With priority given to managing the COVID-19 situation, Dr. Lim spoke about the different challenges faced in facilitating Global Citizenship Education both in the youth and the adults. He emphasized on the need for more innovative ways of practicing GCED and highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in GCED- one which allowed for practising GCED from the ground level.

He further highlighted the two ways in which one understands citizenship-

1. The set of virtues that citizens should embody and display
2. The membership to a certain state and thee rights which one has as a citizen

Dr. Lim then discussed the need for a new concept of citizenship. This was further supported by Dr. Tandon’s point, which emphasized on the need to change our understanding about citizenship. He pushed forward the concept of citizenship for the point of view of the horizontal relationships that exist between the citizens- be it through the sense of belonging to the same place, through the personal and collective accountability or through the feeling of solidarity.

Global solidarity, especially under the current circumstances, has been witnessed by each and every one of us. This feeling of solidarity is key for one to tackle the global challenges- be it the climate change, the pandemic or any future crises. I believe that corporation and collaboration is key for us to find a solution. Dr. Lim pointed out while certain xenophobic nationalist tendencies have also been witnessed during the present time, there is a need to fight this tendency. Thus, citizens need to be empowered such that they can critically analyse the situation- highlighting the need and importance of GCED.

One important point which was mentioned by both Dr. Lim and Dr, Tandon was the need for an alternative globalisation. The current system is one which has benefitted solely the elites and the capitalists, thus widening the gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged sections of the society. Drawing our attention to the definition of a global citizen (an individual who aware of and understands the wider world), it was shared that the alternative concept of globalisation should be rooted in the understanding that a citizen needs to act locally while keeping a global understanding. A systemic change needs the citizens to act- any change needs to begin from us and then move beyond. This is what Dr. Lim was discussing as a new paradigm for Global citizenship education- one which ensures that we learn from our own experiences and practice the concept of citizenship in our everyday life.