Education via distant learning, democracy under restricted basic rights – only two of the many effects the Covid-19 crisis has on our lives and society. The effects of the pandemic in the different European countries was one major part of the discussion at the first videoconferences of the Thematic Group “education, democracy and diversity” of the Conference of European Churches. ICCS participates in the group via Bianca Kappelhoff, researcher at the Comenius Institute, Germany. Originally, the group’s meeting was planned to take place in late March in Strasbourg but in times where #stayathome is the first priority for all Europeans it was moved to an online platform.
The twelve members of the group exchanged about the situation in their respective countries and shared how their institutions and churches respond to this exceptional situation. “There is a whole new set of issues that become virulent during this crisis and which are directly linked to our group’s thematic focus. It will be a great opportunity to reflect on this within this group it but also remains a big challenge as society seems to undertake major changes in such short time” Bianca expresses her thoughts.
In addition to that, the group decided to work more intensively on the topic of populism over the next couple of months. First tasks and some “homework” for everyone was distributed. The group decided to keep meeting via regular videoconferences until an analogue meeting can take place, hopefully in September 2020.
