Catholic schools and universities struggling with pandemic

Pope Francis has re-launched a worldwide effort to improve education for all young people around the globe, urging civic and religious leaders to create an educational alliance to meet the urgent challenges facing the Earth and humanity. 

“The value of our educational practices will be measured not simply by the results of standardized tests, but by the ability to affect the heart of society and to help give birth to a new culture,” the pope said in an October 15 video message to launch the Global Compact on Education. 

“A different world is possible, and we are called to learn how to build it,” he said in Italian. 

Francis is counting on Catholic schools and universities to play a key role in the endeavour. But those institutions, like almost all others around the world, are currently experiencing great difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic.

La Croix’s Vatican correspondent, Loup Besmond de Senneville, discussed the issue with Archbishop Vincenzo Zani, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

La Croix: Some Catholic schools and universities are going through a very difficult period today because of the COVID-19 crisis. What difficulties are these institutions encountering?

Archbishop Vincenzo Zani: Of the 218,000 Catholic schools and 1,860 Catholic universities around the world, I don't know the details of all the situations. But on a global level, we know that the difficulties are of two kinds: educational and financial.

On the financial level, the situation is very different from one country to another.

First of all, there are countries where Catholic schools are totally subsidized by the state, others where they receive a partial subsidy and a third category in which they do not receive any public aid at all.

This is the case, for example, in Italy, Belgium and Spain, as well as in the United States.

We do not know today how many schools or universities will have to close. But we already know that in some countries, the institutions are on their knees.

If I take the case of the United States, where the schools do not receive any subsidies, elementary schools, for example, are linked to parishes.

In New York City alone, 100 Catholic elementary schools will close next year, either because the parishes have not been able to raise the necessary money, or because the economic situation of the schools is insurmountable.

And on the educational level?

Most schools and universities have made admirable use of digital tools. But it is obvious that today we can no longer continue in this way.

Through these means, we can provide information, but to inform is not to educate.

Moreover, it should be remembered that teachers were not prepared for such a digital switchover.

Among the young people, some did not have access to classes because their families did not have the necessary computer resources. As a result, we witnessed a collapse. 

Added to the health pandemic has been an intellectual and educational pandemic.

The situation is dramatic.

According to UNICEF, 10 million people no longer have any contact with their teachers...

What is the situation on the African continent?

Paradoxically, in Africa, the situation is perhaps better than elsewhere.

Despite a very acute health crisis and repercussions in some countries on the food situation, schools are resisting better.

This is undoubtedly due to the fact that they depend on smaller structures, with much lower operating costs than elsewhere. It’s an agility that makes them more resilient.

And elsewhere?

We are very concerned about the situation in other areas, such as India and Latin America, like Peru and Ecuador.

What response should we bring to this crisis situation?

For several weeks, we have seen remarkable initiatives emerge all over the world.

In Spain, for example, the schools coordinated in an exemplary way, and the directors worked hard among themselves and in conjunction with other professions, such as groups of psychologists, to overcome the crisis.

In Italy, some parishes have opened their doors to allow schools to use their premises, thus ensuring the safe social distancing that is essential for recovery.

But this crisis also prompts us to reflect on the future.

For us, the central question is how to move from information to training.

Training and education consists of carrying out a form of purification in all possible information in order to be able to keep what will contribute to forming a personality.

This can be done by opening it up to transcendence.

As Pope Francis says, without a transcendental character, education collapses.