School Closures Due To COVID-19 Widen Learning Inequities In South Asia, UNICEF Says

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have lowered learning levels across South Asia, with 75 per cent of children aged 5-13 years being affected in India, the UN children's agency said on Thursday. The pandemic has led to alarming inequities in learning opportunities for children in South Asia despite efforts to expand remote education, according to UNICEF research conducted in India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It shows that school closures have interrupted the learning of 434 million children in the region. Low connectivity, shortage of computers and limited teacher contact have been key constraints in promoting online learning. "School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low connectivity and device affordability," said George Laryea-Adjei, the UN agency's regional director. In India, 75 per cent of children aged 5-13 years, and 80 per cent of those between 14 and 18 years of age reported learning less than when physically at school. Forty-two per cent children in India between 6 and 13 years of age reported not using any type of remote learning during school closures, while in Pakistan 23 per cent of younger children did not have access to any device that could support remote learning, the UNICEF research found. -- BERNAMA