Around one third of countries are yet to implement remedial programmes for students to catch up on their lost learning, in the wake of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to UN agencies.
Two UN agencies and partners in a report issued on Tuesday said only one-third of countries, mainly high-income nations, were taking steps to measure learning losses at the primary and lower-secondary levels.
The finding is one of the results of a survey conducted by the UN Educational and Cultural Agency (UNESCO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report was released at the Ministerial segment of UNESCO’s Global Education meeting on Tuesday, held on the margins of the annual UN High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development.
Silvia Montoya, Director, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, said measuring learning loss was a critical first step towards mitigating its consequences.
“It is vital that countries invest in assessing the magnitude of such losses to implement the appropriate remedial measures.’’
In total, 142 countries participated in the survey, which covered the period from February to May of 2021 and spanned four levels of education from pre-primary through upper secondary schooling.
Fewer than a third of low and middle-income countries reported that all students had returned to in-person schooling, heightening the risks of learning loss, as well as drop-outs.
However, most countries have encouraged students to return to school, through measures such as community engagement, school-based tracking, financial incentives and improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene services.
The survey further documents how countries are addressing the challenge of reopening schools and deploying distance learning strategies.
“Remote learning has been a lifeline for many children around the world during school closures. But for the most vulnerable, even this was out of reach.
”It is urgent that we get every child back into the classroom now,” said Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Global Chief of Education.
“But we cannot stop there; reopening better means implementing remedial programmes to help students get back on track and ensuring that we prioritise girls and vulnerable children in all our efforts,” Jenkins added.
Meanwhile, the head of the Forum, the agency’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, and UNICEF’s Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, had issued a statement underscoring why reopening schools cannot wait.
With classrooms still shuttered in 19 countries, affecting more than 156 million students, they warned that the losses children and young people incur from missing out on school may never be recouped.
“From learning loss, mental distress, exposure to violence and abuse, to missed school-based meals and vaccinations or reduced development of social skills, the consequences for children will be felt.
“It will be felt in their academic achievement and societal engagement, as well as physical and mental health.
“The most affected are often children in low-resource settings who do not have access to remote learning tools, and the youngest children who are at key developmental stages,” they said.
School closures also affect parents and caregivers, they added, as having to keep children at home has forced some parents to leave their jobs, especially in countries that have limited or no family leave policies.
The UN officials, therefore, urged decision makers and governments to prioritise the safe reopening of schools to avoid a generational catastrophe.
They pointed to evidence showing that schools were not among the main drivers of coronavirus transmission, saying that the decision on whether to open or close them should be based on risk analysis and the “epidemiological considerations” in communities where they are located.
“Closing schools mortgages our future for unclear benefits to our present; we must prioritise better, we can reopen schools safely and we must”, the UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the officials as saying.
