Nearly 1.6 billion learners affected by COVID-19: says UN

Geneva, 11 Aug (Kanaga Raja) – The COVID-19 pandemic has created “the largest disruption of education systems in history”, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries, according to a United Nations report.According to a Policy Brief by the UN Secretary-General on education during COVID-19 and beyond, closures of schools and other learning spaces have impacted 94 per cent of the world’s student population, and up to 99 per cent in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
The UN report said that the crisis is exacerbating pre-existing education disparities by reducing the opportunities for many of the most vulnerable children, youth, and adults – those living in poor or rural areas, girls, refugees, persons with disabilities and forcibly displaced persons – to continue their learning.
“Learning losses also threaten to extend beyond this generation and erase decades of progress, not least in support of girls and young women’s educational access and retention,” it added.
Some 23.8 million additional children and youth (from pre-primary to tertiary) may drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic’s economic impact alone, said the report.
Similarly, the education disruption has had, and will continue to have, substantial effects beyond education.
“Closures of educational institutions hamper the provision of essential services to children and communities, including access to nutritious food, affect the ability of many parents to work, and increase risks of violence against women and girls.”
On the other hand, this crisis has stimulated innovation within the education sector, said the report.
“We have seen innovative approaches in support of education and training continuity: from radio and television to take-home packages,” said the UN Secretary-General.
Distance learning solutions were developed thanks to quick responses by governments and partners all over the world supporting education continuity, including the Global Education Coalition convened by UNESCO.
Before the pandemic, the world was already facing formidable challenges in fulfilling the promise of education as a basic human right, the report emphasized.
Despite the near universal enrolment at early grades in most countries, an extraordinary number of children – more than 250 million – were out of school, and nearly 800 million adults were illiterate.
Moreover, even for those in school, learning was far from guaranteed. Some 387 million or 56 per cent of primary school age children worldwide were estimated to lack basic reading skills.
From a financing point of view, the challenge was already daunting before COVID-19, said the report, adding that the early 2020 estimate of the financing gap to reach Sustainable Development Goal 4 – quality education – in low- and lower-middle-income countries was a staggering $148 billion annually.
It is estimated that the COVID-19 crisis will increase this financing gap by up to one-third, it added.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the largest disruption of education in history, having already had a near universal impact on learners and teachers around the world, from pre-primary to secondary schools, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, universities, adult learning, and skills development establishments.”
By mid-April 2020, 94 per cent of learners worldwide were affected by the pandemic, representing 1.58 billion children and youth, from pre-primary to higher education, in 200 countries.
The ability to respond to school closures changes dramatically with level of development, said the report.
For instance, it noted, during the second quarter of 2020, 86 per cent of children in primary education have been effectively out of school in countries with low human development – compared with just 20 per cent in countries with very high human development.
In Africa, particularly in the Sahel region, nationwide school closures due to COVID-19 came at a time when a very large number of schools had already been closed for several months because of severe insecurity, strikes, or climatic hazards.
COVID-19 is worsening the situation of education in Sub-Saharan Africa where, prior to the pandemic, 47 per cent of the world’s 258 million out-of-school children live (30 per cent due to conflict and emergency).
According to the report, in the most fragile education systems, this interruption of the school year will have a disproportionately negative impact on the most vulnerable pupils, those for whom the conditions for ensuring continuity of learning at home are limited.
“Their presence at home can also complicate the economic situation of parents, who must find solutions to provide care or compensate for the loss of school meals.”
There is growing concern that if these learners are not properly supported, they may never return to school.
“This would further exacerbate pre-existing disparities, and risk reversing progress on SDG 4 as well as other SDGs, as well as aggravating the already existing learning crisis and eroding the social and economic resilience of refugees and displaced persons,” the report cautioned.
The disruptions caused by COVID-19 to everyday life meant that as many as 40 million children worldwide have missed out on early childhood education in their critical pre-school year.
“They thus missed a stimulating and enriching environment, learning opportunities, social interaction and in some cases adequate nutrition.”
In technical and vocational education and training systems, vulnerabilities including low levels of digitalization and long-standing structural weaknesses, have been brought to light by the crisis.
Disruptions in workplaces made it difficult to implement apprenticeship schemes and work-based learning modes, key elements of a functional and market-responsive technical and vocational system.
In the higher education sub-sector, while online learning has generally taken place through recorded lectures and online platforms, some universities have postponed learning and teaching until further notice, due to the lack of information technology (IT) infrastructure for both students and teachers, the report noted.
“An estimated 40 per cent of the poorest countries failed to support learners at risk during the COVID-19 crisis, and past experiences show that both education and gender inequalities tend to be neglected in responses to disease outbreaks.”
Domestic chores, especially for girls, and the work required to run households or farms, can also prevent children from getting sufficient learning time, said the report.
The most vulnerable learners are also among those who have poor digital skills and the least access to hardware and connectivity required for distance learning solutions implemented during school closures.
In half of 21 European countries examined, Grade 4 pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds were half as likely to have access to the internet as their more advantaged peers. In seven low-income countries, less than 10 per cent of the poorest households have electricity.
Many learners in developing countries, especially the youngest and minority groups, are not fluent in the language of instruction, said the report.
Even when they could access content that they could understand, living conditions, economic stress, and low education levels of parents, including digital skills, meant that many children did not benefit from the stable environment and the learning support needed to adapt to these new modes of instruction.
In most European countries, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to lack reading opportunities, a quiet room, and parental support during school closure.
In low-income and upper-middle-income countries alike, children in the poorest households receive significantly less help with their homework.
The learning loss, in the short and long term, is expected to be great. Researchers in Canada estimate that the socio-economic skills gap could increase by more than 30 per cent due to the pandemic, said the report.
According to the report, the World Bank identifies three possible scenarios for the loss of learning: a reduction in average learning levels for all students, a widening of the distribution of learning achievements due to highly unequal effects of the crisis on various populations, or a significant increase of students with very low level of achievement due in part to massive dropouts.
This suggests that 25 per cent more students may fall below a baseline level of proficiency needed to participate effectively and productively in society, and in future learning, as a result of the school closures only, it said.
In the foundational years of education, the impact might be the strongest, the report emphasized.
Simulations on developing countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggest that without re-mediation, a loss of learning by one-third (equivalent to a three-month school closure) during Grade 3 might result in 72 per cent of students falling so far behind that by Grade 10 they will have dropped out or will not be able to learn anything in school.
The economic loss might reach $16,000 of lost earnings over a student’s lifetime, translating over time into $10 trillion of lost earnings globally, said the report.
In addition to the learning loss, the economic impact on households is likely to widen the inequities in education achievement.
Should millions be pushed into severe poverty, empirical evidence shows that children from households in the poorest quintiles are significantly less likely to complete primary and lower secondary education than those in the richest quintile.
This divide can be greater than 50 percentage points in many sub-Saharan countries, as well as in Haiti, Jordan, Nepal, and Pakistan.
UNESCO estimates that 23.8 million additional children and youth (from pre-primary to tertiary) may drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic’s economic impact alone.
The total number of children not returning to their education after the school closures is likely to be even greater.
With the combined effect of the pandemic’s worldwide economic impact and the school closures, the learning crisis could turn into a generational catastrophe, said the report.
Closures of schools and other educational institutions are also hampering the provision of essential services to children and communities, it noted.
The loss of school meals and other health and nutrition services in the first months of the pandemic affected 370 million children in 195 countries, increasing hunger and nutritional deficiencies for the most disadvantaged.
Some countries, however, have been able to adapt and maintain school feeding programmes.
According to the report, as with previous pandemics, COVID-19 has shown that education institution closures represent an increased risk for women and girls, as they are more vulnerable to multiple types of abuse, such as domestic violence, transactional sex, and early and forced marriages.
The closures have also affected the ability of many parents to work. A significant share of working parents rely on childcare and schools.
In countries such as France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and USA, 60 per cent of parents have been unable to find alternative solutions for schools and day-care centres.
A recent study highlights that women are bearing the greater share of additional time spent on childcare and household tasks.
Coupled with the present economic disruption, this will likely contribute to higher earning gaps, thus widening gender inequality.
Furthermore, studies project that working-hour losses will represent up to 400 million full-time jobs.
As the health crisis unfolded, causing massive socio-economic disruptions, education systems around the world were swift to react and adapt, the report noted.
Governments responded quickly to ensure education continuity and protect the safety of learners and education actors by closing schools and other learning spaces.
However, the unequal provision of learning modalities during closures will likely create inequities in the longer term, said the report.
Ensuring learning continuity during the time of school closures became a priority for governments the world over, many of which turned to ICT, requiring teachers to move to online delivery of lessons.
In areas with limited connectivity, governments have used more traditional distance learning modalities, often a mix of educational television and radio programming, and the distribution of print materials.
According to the report, relatively few countries are monitoring the effective reach and use of distance learning modalities.
However, estimates indicate variable coverage: distance learning in high-income countries covers about 80-85 per cent, while this drops to less than 50 per cent in low-income countries.
This shortfall can largely be attributed to the digital divide, with the disadvantaged having limited access to basic household services such as electricity; a lack of technology infrastructure; and low levels of digital literacy among students, parents, and teachers, said the report.
More than 70 countries have adapted their school feeding programmes to continue supporting children during school closures.
Nearly 50 countries are providing take-home rations to children and their families in various forms, including through daily meal delivery and pre-packaged monthly rations.
Twenty-two countries have opted to replace the meals with vouchers or cash that families can use to buy food or other essential items.
Some 6.9 million learners in 45 low-income countries have been reached since the onset of the crisis with take- home rations by governments with the support of the UN system, said the report.
As countries began to see a “flattening of the curve” of new cases of COVID-19 among their population, many governments began to loosen restrictions in an effort to stabilize their economies, including through the re-opening of schools, while others have been more cautious and maintained closures, fearing a “second wave”.
As of mid-July 2020, over one billion learners are still affected, representing 61 per cent of the world’s total enrolment.
Some countries have opened schools and colleges, only to close them again after a resurgence of the virus.
Successive closures and re-openings are likely to continue, as the virus continues to circulate globally. Several countries are planning to implement a “hybrid” or blended model of education provision, the report noted.
Meanwhile, other countries are significantly reducing class sizes or providing lessons outside, and in many countries, institutions require that almost all students and their teachers wear masks.
The COVID-19 crisis and the unparalleled education disruption is far from over, said the report.
“As many as 100 countries have yet to announce a date for schools to reopen and across the world, governments, unions, parents and children are grappling with when and how to approach the next phase.”
Preventing a learning crisis from becoming a generational catastrophe requires urgent action from all, said the report.
“Education is not only a fundamental human right. It is an enabling right with direct impact on the realization of all other human rights.”
It is a global common good and a primary driver of progress across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a bedrock of just, equal, and inclusive peaceful societies.
When education systems collapse, peaceful, prosperous and productive societies cannot be sustained, the report concluded. – Third World Network
Published in SUNS #9178 dated 12 August 2020