At least 635 million students affected by school closures – UNICEF

By Our Reporter

24^th Jan 2022

picture from UNICEF

More than 635 million students remain affected by full or partial school closures, according to the United Nations Children Fund-UNICEF, in its latest data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s learning.

In a statement released today, the organization noted that in low and middle-income countries, learning losses to school closures have left up to 70 per cent of 10-year-olds unable to read or understand a simple text, up from 53 per cent in the period before the pandemic.

While there have been general disruptions across all age groups, the children’s body says that younger and more marginalized children are facing the greatest loss.

In Ethiopia, primary school children are estimated to have learned between 30 to 40 per cent of the math they would have learned if it had been a normal school year whereas, in the US, learning losses have been observed in many states including Texas, California, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland.

In Texas, for example, two-thirds of children in grade III tested below their grade level in math in 2021, compared to half of the children in 2019. In South Africa, schoolchildren are between 75 per cent and a full school year behind where they should be.

Some 400,000 to 500,000 students reportedly dropped out of school altogether between March 2020 and July 2021.

Commenting on this latest data, Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Chief of Education said they are seeing a nearly insurmountable scale of loss to children’s schooling, two years into COVID-19 related disruptions to global education. He added that while the disruptions to learning must end, just reopening schools is not enough.

He says Students need intensive support to recover from lost education. Schools must also go beyond places of learning to rebuild children’s mental and physical health, social development and nutrition.”

More than 370 million children globally missed out on school meals during school closures, losing what is for some children the only reliable source of food and daily nutrition.