São Paulo City Hall participated in a UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) webinar to share experiences, difficulties and good practices in the area of education related to COVID-19. The online meeting was held this Tuesday (24th), and had São Paulo’s capital city represented by the Secretary of International Relations, Luiz Alvaro Salles Aguiar de Menezes. The Multilateral International Affairs and Networks of Cities Advisor, Kaliane Santos Oliveira, also attended the meeting.

The webinar was also attended by the Mayor of Osan (South Korea), Kwak Sang Wook, the Wuhan Academy Researcher (China), Zhou Jia, and the Representative of the Education Department in Turin (Italy), Isabella Calvagno. Accompanied by more than 200 people, the online meeting organized by UNESCO allowed the four invited participants to present the resolutions their cities have found to face the crisis caused by the spread of the coronavirus, especially regards towards education. The intention is that, sharing experiences strengthens good actions in the fight against the pandemic, which can be replicated elsewhere.

Confronting COVID-19 imposes challenges and difficulties in different areas. The area of education, in particular, has been affected by the temporary or indefinite closures of schools and universities that different countries, states and cities have decreed in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease. The city of São Paulo is one of the places to take this kind of isolation measure; because of this, the "Merenda em Casa" (lunch at home) program was launched, and during the classes suspension will offer food to 700,000 students enrolled in the public school network of the state of São Paulo.

"On times to fight against the coronavirus on a global scale, the exchange of experiences is even more important. São Paulo has examples of good practices in combating the pandemic that can inspire solutions in other countries, just as we can also learn from the actions taken by our partners in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities", considers Luiz Alvaro Salles Aguiar de Menezes.

UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities is an international network of 173 cities. Its objective is to promote the exchange of ideas, solutions, practices and inspirations among its members.