Post-COVID: nearly 10 million children are at risk of never returning to school

Up to 1.6 billion of students have had to leave the course (from school to university) because of the pandemic.

Share

July 12, 2020 19: 23

Share

Post-COVID: nearly 10 million children are at risk of never returning to school

AFP

Agence France-Presse

LONDON — Up to nearly 10 million children in the world could never return to school after the confinement because of the economic consequences of the pandemic of novel coronavirus, said Monday the british NGO Save the Children.

Prior to the pandemic, 258 million children and adolescents are already outside the education system in the world. Up to 1.6 billion of students have had to leave the course (from school to university) because of the pandemic, according to the report.

“For the first time in the history of humanity, an entire generation of children has seen his school career upset”, stressed Save the Children in its report.

The association, which calls on governments and donors to act in the face of this “educational emergency world”, estimated that up to nearly 9.7 million students at risk of leaving school for ever by the end of the year.

Without it, the inequalities that already exist “will increase hugely between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls,” said in a press release Inger Ashing, executive director of Save the Children.

In 12 countries, mainly in central Africa and the West, as well as in Yemen and in Afghanistan, children are facing a risk to be “extremely strong” not to return to school after the confinement, especially girls.

“For the first time in the history of humanity, an entire generation of children has seen his school career upset ”

—
Save the Children

The association called the commercial creditors to suspend the repayment of the debt of poor countries, a measure that might allow to unlock $ 14 billion to invest in education.

“It would be inadmissible that the resources which we desperately need to keep alive the hope that brings education to be used to pay down debt,” according to the director-general of Save the Children.

“If we allow this crisis of education is developing, the impact on children will be sustainable”, she continued. “The promise that the world has made to guarantee all children access to a quality education by 2030 will be delayed for several years,” she added, citing the goal set by the United Nations.

The association is estimated at $ 77 billion, the fall in education spending in a budget scenario in the poorest countries in 18 months. In the worst case scenario where governments would assign educational resources to other areas to respond to the pandemic COVID-19, the figure could reach $ 192 billion.

Le Soleil