The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic include growing inequalities with millions of children deprived of an education.
Data from the UN has shown that 11.5 million 10-year-olds will be left unable to read, showing the long-lasting effects of the pandemic.
Anti-poverty organisation One Campaign has found a 17% rise from the previous year of children who won’t learn to read due to the disruption of the virus.
This was a problem before the pandemic, as the learning poverty rate was 53% in low and middle-income families.
One Campaign called on a meeting to pledge to invest $5bn of funding to help education initiatives. The Executive Director David McNair said: “When children can’t read by the age of 10, this has a knock-on effect on their whole education, impacting on their ability to learn, earn, start businesses.
“This lost potential doesn’t just damage lives, it prevents whole economies from growing,”. He went on to further comment: “This virus has taken enough from us already, it must not take the futures of millions of children as well.”
Before the pandemic, 45% of children were already deprived of a number of factors including healthcare, nutrition, water and sanitation and social and child protection. However, the pandemic has also left children deprived of an education.
With millions of children out of school, even before the pandemic, the World Bank reported 258 million children at primary and secondary school age were out of school. Due to schools being closed, 90% of students were affected including 743 million girls, with 30% of school children globally lacking the technology to access remote learning.
After analysing data, the One Campaign reported that children from sub-Saharan Africa made up 40% of the children most at risk. The existing gender inequalities mean that even when it’s safe to do so, around 20 million girls will not return to school. This number is even more worrying as girls, especially in poorer low-income countries, are more vulnerable.
The World Bank has recognised how important it is to support the education sector. Through Covid-19 response investments, they are able to support 62 countries, with support reaching 400 million students and 16 million teachers.
Without action, David McNair says that “the legacy of the pandemic could be millions of more children denied the chance to understand words on a page.”
Although some of the lasting effects of the pandemic are unknown, around 750 million children could be deprived of basic literacy by 2030, therefore widening the already existing inequalities in education.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
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