Youthonomics, the monthly essay writing competition for the youth, organized by SANEM, has become a platform for young intellectuals for academic and policy discussions and debates. Through Youthonomics, SANEM encourages young writers to voice their views and opinions on socio-economic issues. SANEM awards prize money and certificates to the winners of each episode of Youthonomics. SANEM believes that engaging the youth in an intellectual and academic discussion is essential for developing a more informed and rational society.

The 10th episode of Youthonomics was held in June 2020. The topic of Youthonomics-10 was “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education Sector of Bangladesh: Challenges and Solutions”. Participants presented their thoughts, views, and suggestions on the upcoming challenges to be faced by the educational sector of Bangladesh due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in their respective articles.According to UNESCO, during the current global pandemic, 1.2 billion learners (68.0 percent of the world’s total enrolled learners) were affected due to the closure of educational institutes in 144 countries. Losses in opportunities of learning and halt in support to children and young adults in terms of social protection, nutrition, health, psychology has the potential to cause societal tension. In developing countries, closure of schools have far-reaching impacts on other socioeconomic issues such as school dropouts, digital divide, food insecurity and malnutrition, child-labour and child marriage. As the ongoing pandemic has forced people into their homes, online education is gaining popularity around the world. Keeping the online education system welcoming and inclusive is not feasible in many parts of the world as many people do not yet have access to digital devices and internet. The idea of continuing educational activities without violating health protocols has been well received by both educators and students in the developed countries. However, this is not the situation in countries like Bangladesh, where socio-economic reality creates obstacles for both educators and their pupils in adopting such improvisations. This unwilling inability to adapt to this new scenario entails uncertainty for all concerned quarters and raises questions regarding the educational policy to be pursued in the post-pandemic period. These questions involve a wide range of issues, from maintaining health protocols to smooth and fast completion of semesters. Maintaining safe school operations or reopening schools after a closure requires many considerations, as suggested by WHO. Hence, we need some innovative ideas to reform our conventional education system for the present situation and even for the post-pandemic world.

The winners of episode 10 were:

• 1st place: Raisa Binte Huda, Department of Geography & Environment, University of Dhaka

• 2nd place: Syeda Tasfia Tasneem, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, BRAC University

• 3rd place: Saraf Rahman Khan, Department of Finance, Bangladesh University of Professionals