Events

More than 1000 young Indians have penned their insightful thoughts around consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as students across the world still struggle to learn from home.

From 9 April 2020 onwards, UNESCO and Takhte have organized a rolling essay contest titled ‘Year 1 AC (After Coronavirus): Pan India Online Essay Contest 2020’.   Children (aged 11–14 years) and youth (aged 15–24 years) were invited to unleash the power of words to combat isolation and stimulate creativity. After 10 weeks, more than 1000 submissions from across 30 states in India were received. Hundreds of schools and universities showed their support and promoted this contest nationwide.

UNESCO New Delhi and Takhte would like to thank all the participants and encourage the others to express their opinions as soon as possible, since the last date for submissions is 3 July 2020.  For appplication guidelines, Click Here

Notably, young women contributed 70% of the total submissions received under the Youth category - voicing their opinions and concerns about life post COVID-19, especially on gender roles, stereotypes, solidarity, environmental issues, fake information, science and technology. 

The frequent use of pronouns such as “we” or “us”, demonstrates that they are experiencing these difficult times as a community. While children frequently used “I” or “my”, indicating that they related the topic to personal experience, with a reflection based on their current situation.

In the youth category, the most common topic discussed was gender and stereotypes. Young adults mostly wrote about the repartition of chores while always keeping in mind the pandemic. Words such as "equality" and "stereotypes" were frequently used by both male and female participants. The ideas of gender equality and the need to tackle stereotypes appear to be widely acknowledged. 

Meanwhile, children wrote about the overwhelming influence of “media”, and target misleading “rumors”. Many of them also perceived this contest as an opportunity to denounce popular but erroneous beliefs related to the pandemic.

Overall, the contest has captured the youth’s desire to express their thoughts during this period, visualizing the future they would like to build after the coronavirus fades away.

Following a thorough screening process, 80 winning essays have been showcased through the UNESCO website and social media channels. Each essay has something new and important to say. 

Keep writing and sharing your thoughts on how to build a better future for all! Stay safe!

Learn more

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/10-weeks-70-days-1000-different-voices