At a time when the French Ministry of Education wants a "return to school as normal as possible", Unesco revealed in a press release published on Monday August 31 that only one in three students in the world would be able to return to classrooms of a school at the end of summer.

Two-thirds of students around the world remain "without school" or "in uncertainty" caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Of a total of 1.5 billion children in pre-primary to secondary school worldwide, 900 million usually return to school between August and October.

The other 600 million are in another school calendar (January-November, March-December ...).

About 128 million have already started in a new class and 433 million, in 155 countries, should do the same in the coming weeks, a total of 561 million students, specifies the United Nations organization for education, science and culture.

But a billion students, or two-thirds of the world's school population, remain "without school or in a situation of uncertainty", she underlines, while several European countries are back to school.

"A global educational emergency"

In addition, "more than half of the 900 million pupils who are starting the new school year are expected to follow distance education, in whole or in part".

And "the majority of these learners and their families are still waiting for clear indications on what to expect at the start of the 2020-21 school year, just a few weeks before the scheduled date."

Closed schools, distance learning, uncertainties, risk of dropping out of school ...: Unesco is once again alarmed by this situation, pointing out that it is likely to have an impact on the most vulnerable populations, and in especially on girls.

She urges the education authorities to ensure a swift return to school, while taking measures for the health and safety of students and school staff.

"The education crisis is still as serious", declared Audrey Azoulay, the director general of Unesco, quoted in the press release.

"Several generations find themselves threatened by these school closures which affect hundreds of millions of students and have now been going on for many months. There is a global educational emergency here", added Audrey Azoulay, whose organization, in collaboration with other UN agencies and the World Bank, is currently working to reopen schools.

With AFP

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