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| Before the crisis, an estimated 258 million children and adolescents were already missing out on school, the charity said. Save the Children said that for the first time ever, "an entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted". (Photo by= AFP/Ina Fassbender) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] The coronavirus pandemic has caused an "unprecedented education emergency" with up to 9.7 million children affected by school closures at risk of never going back to class, Save the Children warned on Monday (Jul 13).
The British charity cited UNESCO data showing that in April, 1.6 billion young people were shut out of school and university due to measures to contain COVID-19 - about 90 per cent of the world's entire student population. "For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted," it said in a new report, Save our Education.It said the economic fall-out of the crisis could force an extra 90 to 117 million children into poverty, with a knock-on effect on school admissions.
The charity warned the crisis could leave a shortage of US$77 billion in education budgets in low and middle-income countries by the end of 2021. The charity urged governments and donors to invest more funds behind a new global education plan to help children back into school when it is safe and until then support distance learning. The report listed 12 countries where children are most at risk of falling behind: Niger, Mali, Chad, Liberia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Mauritania, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
