COVID-19: Over 850 million youth away from schools, colleges globally

NEW DELHI: Over 850 million young people in the world are now away from educational institutes due to the global shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, announced United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, or UNESCO, on Wednesday.

The shutdown has caused “educational disruption” to as many as 861.7 million children and youth worldwide, a UNESCO statement said.

According to UNESCO, around 170 countries in the world have closed all educational institutes to reduce the risk of novel COVID-19 virus. And 12 more countries, including India, have implemented a “localised school closure”.

In a bid to assuage the situation, the organisation has facilitated the continuity of learning, especially for the most vulnerable.

Mitigation

The UNESCO has called it an “unprecedented challenge” as roughly half of the global youth population is confined to home due to the risk of virus transmission.

To help in continuation of education, “a COVID-19 task force” has been established to provide technical assistance to governments working to provide education to students out of school.

Help is being provided through virtual meetings with education ministers of countries facing challenges.

Remote learning solutions in collaboration with tech-giants like Microsoft and the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) are also being provided to the countries in need.

Impact on India

On Wednesday, with Andhra Pradesh shutting schools, all states in India closed down schools. Going by the latest data on enrollments shared by the government in Parliament in 2019, over 21 crore school students are now at home.

Delhi alone has close to 40 lakh children attending its public and private schools who have been confined to home.

Higher educational institutes have also declared holiday till March 31 and many have vacated their campuses to avoid risk of spreading the disease.

Also read:

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Latest Updates
• Coronavirus: UNICEF, WHO, IFRC jointly issue advisory for schools
  

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