[b]COVID-19 is disrupting education around the world[/b]
Link: [url=https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/covid-19-is-disrupting-education-around-the-world]https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/covid-19-is-disrupting-education-around-the-world[/url]
The global community is experiencing an unprecedented closure of schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Bank, more than 180 countries mandated the temporary closure of schools in 2020, leaving 1.6 billion children and young people out of school during the peak of the shutdown in April.
The Bretton Woods institution also reports that unemployment is on the rise around the world, family incomes are plummeting, and governments are going deep into debt as a result of the global health crisis.
One concern to developing countries is the long-term impact of educational interruption on a generation of children. According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 school shutdowns “could result in a loss of between 0.3 and 0.9 years of schooling adjusted for quality, bringing the effective years of schooling that students achieve during their lifetime down from 7.9 years to between 7.0 and 7.6 years.”
In the increasingly likely event that schools are closed for seven months and mitigation measures are ineffective, “exclusion and inequality will likely be exacerbated if already marginalized and vulnerable groups, like girls, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, are more adversely affected by the school closures and corresponding off-setting action is not taken.”
And it is estimated that approximately seven million primary and secondary school students could drop out due to the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, students in low and middle income countries were already at a disadvantage relative to students in the industrialized world. However, now, they are suffering even more.
Although it is important to get children back in school, the health and safety of students and teachers must be a central concern. To that end, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Food Programme, and World Bank have jointly issued the Framework for Reopening Schools. It talks about the effect COVID-19 has internationally, especially in third world countries and the conditions for school reopenings.
26 JUL 2020