Education of 24.7 cr kids hit in India: Unicef

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

The closure of over 15 lakh schools due to the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020 impacted 24.7 crore children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in India, a Unicef report has found. There were additional over 60 lakh girls and boys who were already out of school before the Covid crisis began.

It said online education wasn’t an option for all as only one in four children had access to digital devices.

Globally, schools catering to over 16.8 crore children had been completely closed since almost a year due to Covid-induced shutdowns, it said.

The pandemic had devastated the learning outcomes among children, it said, urging governments to reopen schools on priority.

The Unicef said in India, only eight states and UTs had yet opened all classes from class 1 to 12; 11 states had reopened classes 6-12 and 15 states had only opened classes 9-12; three states had reopened anganwadi centers, with younger children losing out greatly on crucial foundational learning.