United Nations agencies and World Bank have issued new guidelines on the safe reopening of schools after they were closed at the onset of coronavirus.
UNESCO, UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP) and World Bank yesterday said school closures have affected nearly 1.3 billion students worldwide.
In a statement released yesterday, the agencies warned that the widespread closures of educational facilities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have presented an unprecedented risk to children’s education and wellbeing.
“Rising inequality, poor health outcomes, violence, child labour and child marriage are just some of the long-term threats for children who miss out on school,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director.
The new guidelines indicate that while there is not yet enough evidence to measure the impact of school closures on disease transmission rates, the adverse effects of school closures on children’s safety and learning are well documented.
“Gains made in increasing access to children’s education in recent decades risk being lost and, in the worse cases, reversed completely,” she said.
David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, said in the poorest countries, children often rely on schools for their only meal of the day.
The agencies advised the best interests of children and overall public health considerations – based on an assessment of the associated benefits and risks to education, public health and socio-economic factors – must be central to national and local authorities’ decisions to reopen schools.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said many students are falling behind in their learning journey because of prolonged school closures.
Jaime Saavedra, World Bank global director for education, said once schools begin to reopen, priority should be reintegrating students into school settings safely and in ways that allow learning to pick up again, especially for those who suffered the biggest learning losses.
