Context: Recently, United Nations(UN) has released a report titled “Policy Brief: Education During Covid-19 and Beyond”.

• According to the recent report, almost 24 million children are at risk of not returning to school next year due to the economic fallout of COVID-19. 

Key findings of the report

• More than 1.6 billion learners affected across the world by the disruption of the education system.
• Disparities increased: The pandemic has served to exacerbate existing disparities, with vulnerable populations in low-income countries taking a harder and longer hit.
• School dropouts: Almost 24 million children are at risk of not returning to school next year due to the economic fallout of COVID-19.
• Girls and young women are likely to be disproportionately affected as school closures make them more vulnerable to child marriage, early pregnancy and gender-based violence.
• Learning losses: Even for those who do not drop out of school, learning losses could be severe, especially in the foundational years.

Overall impact

Simulations on developing countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggest that:

• Impact on learning: Without remediation, a loss of learning by one-third [equivalent to a three-month school closure] during Grade 3 might result in 72% of students falling so far behind that by Grade 10 they will have dropped out or will not be able to learn anything in school.
• The economic loss might reach $16,000 of lost earnings over a student’s lifetime, translating over time into $10 trillion of lost earnings globally.
• Increased financial gap: In early 2020, low and middle incomes faced a $148-billion gap between their education budgets and the money available to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of quality education. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to increase that financing gap by up to one-third.

What needs to be done?

• Education budgets need to be protected and increased. And it is critical that education is at the heart of international solidarity efforts, from debt management and stimulus packages to global humanitarian appeals and official development assistance.

Road Ahead

• To avoid the outcome of the pandemic, progress on three fronts is required : Information, Solidarity and Action.
• It is critical that education is at the heart of international solidarity efforts, from debt management and stimulus packages to global humanitarian appeals and official development assistance.
• Now is the time to step up international solidarity for children and humanity— and to lay the foundations for a deeper transformation of the way we nurture and invest in our world’s youngest generation.
• India as a lower-middle-income country needs to use education as an equalizer for its widespread socioeconomic inequalities. Focus on increasing education budget in New Education Policy budget and decreasing digital divide are welcome steps to achieve this goal.

Additional Facts

• Save Our Children: It is a campaign launched by a coalition of global organisations to amplify the voices of children and young people and urge governments worldwide to recognise investment in education as critical to recovery.
• Global Education Coalition(GEC): It has been launched by UNESCO to facilitate inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption.
• Members: It is an open partnership that includes international organizations (ILO,UNICEF,WB among others) , private sector partners (Facebook, Google) and Philanthropic and non-profit organizations(Khan Academy among others).
• Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: It has been released by UNESCO to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education as well as other education-related points in the SDG Agenda.