No remote learning for millions of kids

from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – MORE than 463 million children globally have been unable to access remote learning following the lockdowns to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19).

This represents a third of the world’s schoolchildren.

Henrietta Fore, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, said the number of children whose education was completely disrupted for months on end was a global education emergency.

“The repercussions could be felt in economies and societies for decades to come,” she warned.

According to UNICEF’s Remote Learning Reachability report, schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa are the most affected, with half of all students cannot be reached with remote learning.

Schoolchildren from the poorest households and those living in rural areas are by far the most likely to miss out during closures.

Globally, 72 percent of pupils unable to access remote learning live in their countries’ poorest households.

Even when children have the technology and tools at home, they may not be able to learn remotely through those platforms due to competing factors in the home.

These include pressure to do chores, being forced to work, a poor environment for learning and lack of support in using the online or broadcast curriculum.

The UNICEF report relied on data from 100 countries.

More than 24,35 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed globally.

These include over 830 000 deaths.

– CAJ News