When we know the importance of education to lift people out of poverty, we understand that coronavirus will have extremely negative effects in the long term. Up to nearly 10 million children worldwide may never return to school after confinement, the British NGO Save the Children said on Monday.
Over 90% of the world's children and students have missed out on school because of coronavirus. We must protect every child's right to learn in the COVID-19 response and recovery. Read our #SaveOurEducation report: https://t.co/ji6cmkr73f pic.twitter.com/UrZQecoVUP
- Save the Children International (@save_children) July 13, 2020Before the pandemic, 258 million children and adolescents were already outside the education system worldwide. Up to 1.6 billion students have had to drop out of school, from school to university, due to the international health crisis, the report said. "For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children will have had their school career turned upside down," said Save the Children.
Risk of increasing inequality between girls and boys
The association, which calls on governments and donors to act in the face of this "global educational emergency", estimates that up to nearly 9.7 million students are likely to leave school forever by the end of the end of the year. If nothing is done, the inequalities that already exist "will explode between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls," said Inger Ashing, executive director of Save the Children. In 12 countries, mainly in West and Central Africa, as well as in Yemen and Afghanistan, children face an "extremely high" risk of not going back to school after confinement, especially girls.
The association therefore calls on commercial creditors to suspend repayment of the debt of poor countries, a measure which it believes could free up $ 14 billion to invest in education. "It would be unacceptable that the resources that are so desperately needed to keep alive the hope that education brings are used to pay off debts," said Inger Ashing. "If we let this education crisis develop, the impact on children will be lasting," she continues. "The world's promise to guarantee all children access to quality education by 2030 will be delayed for several years," said Inger Ashing, citing the target set by the United Nations.
A shortfall of $ 77 billion to $ 192 billion
The association estimates that spending on education will drop to $ 77 billion in an average budget scenario in the poorest countries within 18 months. In the worst case scenario where governments allocate education resources to other areas to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, the figure could reach $ 192 billion.
World
In Brazil, the epidemic wreaks havoc in the favelas
Planet
"Children are great transmission belts for ecology," says author Elsa Grangier.
- Poverty
- school
- Coronavirus
- Confinement
- Growth
- Development
- Education
- World