1.5 billion children around globe affected by school closure. What countries are doing to keep kids learning during pandemic. - The Washington Post

1.5 billion children around globe affected by school closure. What countries are doing to keep kids learning during pandemic. - The Washington Post

1.5 billion children around globe affected by school closure. What countries are doing to keep kids learning during pandemic.

There are now nearly 1.5 billion children around the globe — or 87 percent of Earth’s student population — whose schools have closed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and more than 60 million teachers are home as well, according to a United Nations agency.

Schools in nearly 165 countries have shuttered, the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says, while education officials seek to scale up measures to help children and parents cope with the hasty shift to learning from home. One agency official said that students need not only academic support but also emotional support.

There were, as of Friday morning, approximately 540,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus around the world, with more than 24,000 deaths, including some 1,300 in the United States. Public life in most countries has virtually stopped in an attempt to stop the spread of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. UNESCO said some 1.52 billion students are out of school worldwide.

At a virtual UNESCO meeting this week, an ad hoc group of education ministers from 11 countries — Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru and Senegal — discussed efforts to keep education continuing with schools shut, and the challenges ahead.

“We cannot replace the presence of teachers and pedagogical relationships, but we have no choice and must do our best to support principals, teachers, parents and learners while ensuring their safety,” Italian Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said, according to UNESCO. “We are using social media tools to keep alive the relationship between teachers and students, and keep up their motivation.”

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said “the responsibility to act is a collective one” and announced the creation of a Global Covid-19 Education Coalition to bring together expertise from around the world to boost efforts in various countries to keep kids learning. One key focus should be on emotional skills, according to Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s assistant director-general for education. CONTINUE READING: 1.5 billion children around globe affected by school closure. What countries are doing to keep kids learning during pandemic. - The Washington Post