COVID-19: Students Need Support To Recover Lost Education – UNICEF

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UNICEF

By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos

More than 616 million students who were affected by Novel CoronaVirus disease (COVID-19-induced) full or partial closure of schools need support to recover lost education.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said so in a news release titled: “COVID-19 Scale of Education Loss ‘Nearly Insurmountable'” which was issued on 24th January 2022.
The news statement  was released on the International Day of Education and as COVID-19 pandemic nears its two-year mark.
“In March, we will mark two years of COVID-19-related disruptions to global education. Quite simply, we are looking at a nearly insurmountable scale of loss to children’s schooling,” Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Chief of Education, said. “While the disruptions to learning must end, just reopening schools is not enough. Students need intensive support to recover lost education. Schools must also go beyond places of learning to rebuild children’s mental and physical health, social development and nutrition.”
UNICEF noticed that children have lost basic numeracy and literacy skills.
The UN organ for children’s well-being said that globally, disruption to education has meant millions of children have significantly missed out on the academic learning they would have acquired if they had been in the classroom, with younger and more marginalized children facing the greater loss.
“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 pre-pandemic,” UNICEF’s research disclosed.

UNICEF pointed out that a growing body of evidence showed that COVID-19 has caused high rates of anxiety and depression among children and young people, with some studies finding that girls, adolescents and those living in rural areas are mostly likely to experience those problems.
As UNICEF narrated: “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.”

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