US President-elect Joe Biden may have promised a “return to normalcy,” but the truth is that there is no going back. The world is changing in fundamental ways, and the actions the world takes in the next few years will be critical to lay the groundwork for a sustainable, secure, and prosperous future.
For more than 25 years, Project Syndicate has been guided by a simple credo: All people deserve access to a broad range of views by the world’s foremost leaders and thinkers on the issues, events, and forces shaping their lives. At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, that mission is more important than ever – and we remain committed to fulfilling it.
But there is no doubt that we, like so many other media organizations nowadays, are under growing strain. If you are in a position to support us, please subscribe now.
As a subscriber, you will enjoy unlimited access to our On Point suite of long reads and book reviews, Say More contributor interviews, The Year Ahead magazine, the full PS archive, and much more. You will also directly support our mission of delivering the highest-quality commentary on the world's most pressing issues to as wide an audience as possible.
By helping us to build a truly open world of ideas, every PS subscriber makes a real difference. Thank you.
发自亚的斯亚贝巴/伦敦—我们不时听见的那种将新型冠状病毒称之为“大型均衡器”的说法其实并不成立。在这场最贫穷和最脆弱群体承受了过度伤害的疫情中，没有任何一种痛苦或牺牲是人人平等的。
在那些贫苦长者们惨遭医疗危机过度蹂躏之时，因疫情引发的空前教育危机也在给最贫穷人家的孩子造成最大程度的伤害，并催生了即将失学的一代人。封锁和其他社交隔离规则迫使全世界的学校关上大门，最高峰时波及了近16亿儿童。虽然较富裕家庭的孩子拥有其他替代选项（比如在线学习），最贫穷的孩子却无从选择。因此那些世界上最弱势的儿童（教育也是他/她们摆脱贫困的唯一途径）已被抛在后面，这也让致力于在2030年为所有人提供包容、公平优质教育的联合国可持续发展目标4越发变得遥不可及。
我们甚至在疫情爆发之前也未能达到这一目标。在全球范围内将近2.6亿儿童失学，有4亿儿童在11岁后辍学。在撒哈拉以南非洲农村这类地区几乎没什么女孩能够读完中学——主要是因为当地童婚极为普遍。近50个国家并未订立禁止童婚的法律，还有更多国家订立了却未能执行，后果就是每年约有1200万学龄女孩要被迫成婚。
We hope you're enjoying Project Syndicate.
To continue reading, subscribe now.
Subscribe
orRegister for FREE to access two premium articles per month.
Register
Already have an account? Log in