Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked UNESCO to declare remote learning and online education as a global public good as these are creating a new divide. “I also call upon UNESCO to work as a matter of priority with Governments, private sectors and other stakeholders to rally partnership and resources to make this happen,” she said while delivering her speech at the 41st General Conference of UNESCO held at its Headquarters here. The Prime Minister said the pandemic has undermined the hard-earned achievements while it has revealed a major fault line in the education system. According to UNESCO, close to half of the world's students are affected by partial or full school closures, she said. “Online education evolved as a “new normal” during the pandemic. Yet, it also exposed a new divide,” she added. In this connection, Sheikh Hasina said the advanced countries could swiftly move to online platforms. But the developing countries and LDCs were pushed further behind due to lack of resources and technologies. “This has jeopardized our decades of gains in school enrollment, literacy rate and learning of youth and adults,” she observed. While digitisation has enhanced better services and free flow of information, all are worried by the misuse of digital tools and platforms for spreading harmful contents and hate speech, she said. “This has a significant negative impact on the peace and stability of the society. World bodies like UNESCO should work for addressing this issue,” said the PM. Read: Hasina invites French entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh Talking about climate change, she said this is a life-threatening reality not only for Bangladesh but also for many other countries of the world.