UNESCO Report: School closure affected 247 million children in India

New Delhi, 4 March 2021: UNESCO’s recent data reveals that over 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools are affected by the school closure due to India’s COVID lockdown.

“In India, the closure of 1.5 million schools due to the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020 has impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools. Also, there are over six million girls and boys who were already out of school even before the COVID-19 crisis began,” said a statement from the UN agency reported.

According to UNICEF’s report, schools globally have been completely closed for more than 168 million children for almost an entire year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Around 214 million children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning.

“Online education is not an option for all as only one in four children has access to digital devices and Internet connectivity. Pre-Covid, only a quarter of households (24 percent) in India had access to the Internet, and there is a large rural-urban and gender divide,” says the UNICEF statement, raising concerns on a higher dropout rate in schools once classes recommence.

Fourteen countries worldwide have remained primarily closed from March 2020 to February 2021. Two-thirds of those countries are in Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting nearly 98 million schoolchildren. Of the 14 countries, Panama has kept schools closed for the most days, followed by El Salvador, Bangladesh, and Bolivia.