In a bid to make the European education system more
digital and resilient, local and regional
politicians are calling on Member States to utilise
a larger proportion of EU funds to improve digital
education and to help close the digital gap between
rural and urban areas. The suggestions are part of
an opinion on the Digital Education Action Plan
2021-2027 which was drafted by Gillian Coughlan
(IE/Renew Europe), Member of the Cork County
Council, and discussed by the members of the
European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 6 May.
The Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027
has two overarching priorities: to foster the
development of a high-performing digital education
ecosystem and to enhance the digital skills and
competences among the European population. The COVID-19
crisis has accelerated an already ongoing shift towards
digitalisation in the EU, making digital competences
vital in almost all areas of daily life, especially in
the workplace and in education. According to
Eurostat
, many Europeans still lack basic digital skills,
however, and
the European Court of Auditors
has highlighted that digital skills are unevenly
distributed among the population based on age,
employment, education and geographical location.
Nowhere has the need for a better digital
infrastructure become more apparent than in education,
where home-schooling and online classes have become a
new temporary norm during the pandemic.
Gillian Coughlan
(IE/Renew Europe), Member of the Cork County Council,
teacher and rapporteur of the opinion, said:
“I have experienced first-hand how many schools,
students and teachers were not prepared for the
switch to digital during the pandemic. This was not
just the case in Ireland, but all across the EU. It
is essential to put in place the digital
infrastructure that will give all students and
teachers equal chances to prosper and develop their
skills. In addition, we must ensure that all
European citizens, regardless of their background
and socio-economic standing, have equal
opportunities to expand their digital competences.”
Victor Negrescu
, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of
its Committee on Culture and Education, joined the
members of the CoR to discuss the opinion and said: “
Access to education is a right and this should be
the case for digital education. We need to define
quality standards for digital education and work
closely with local communities and authorities to
put them in place at a faster pace. Allocating at
least 10% for education in the Recovery Plan is
essential and those new available resources should
involve local stakeholders in order to increase
accessibility, develop the infrastructure, methods
and content, and improve the quality of the
educational process.”
The opinion identifies the digital gap between rural
and urban areas as one of the main problems that the
Digital Education Action Plan needs to address. In
addition, the opinion also emphasises the importance of
improving the digital infrastructure and expanding
digital education within the EU, while simultaneously
ensuring that digital education is equally accessible
to all parts of society, regardless of age, gender,
social background, ethnicity or physical and
intellectual capacity.
In order to achieve these targets, the European
Committee of the Regions calls on the European
Commission and Member States to make greater use of the
funds made available through the Recovery and
Resilience Facility,
Erasmus+
and the
European Social Fund
for digital education. The CoR also calls for direct
public funding for the development of new teaching
models and promoting 21st century skills at
all education levels. Furthermore, members of the CoR
welcome the
European Skills Agenda
and its goal to ensure that 70% of 16 to 74 year-olds
have basic digital skills by 2025.
The opinion also stresses the pivotal role that local
and regional authorities play regarding education and
digital inclusion in their regions and, therefore,
seeks reassurance that funds to improve digital
education will be distributed on the regional level.
After today's debate, the opinion will be adopted by
the CoR's members at the end of the plenary session on
7 May.
Background Information
The EU is currently creating a
European Education Area by 2025
which aims to help Member States build resilient and
forward-looking education and training systems. The CoR
adopted an opinion the European Education Area in March
2021, you can find the press release
here
.
The EU funds available to member states to improve
digital education include the
Erasmus+
programme, which has
an estimated EUR 26,2 billion budget for the
period of 2021-2027
to support education, training, youth and sport in the
EU, and the
European Social Fund (ESF)
, the EU's main instrument for supporting jobs, helping
people find better employment and ensuring fairer job
opportunities for all EU citizens.
Contact:
Tobias Kolonko
Tel. +32 2 282 2003
tobias.kolonko@ext.cor.europa.eu