On Europe 1, Yvan Savy, director of the NGO Plan international France, looks back on the consequences of school closures around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He explains that from Brazil to Somalia, many young girls are in danger because they no longer have access to school.
If schoolchildren, college and high school students were able to find their schools in France, only one in three students in the world found their way back to their school at the end of summer, said Unesco.
An exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and which risks endangering mainly young girls, alert on Europe 1 Yvan Savy, director of the NGO Plan international France.
According to him, "when schools close, girls are automatically exposed".
>> LIVE -
Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Wednesday, September 2
Excisions, forced marriages, setbacks on the right to abortion: the dangers for young women are numerous
Yvan Savy points to several countries in Africa, including Somalia, "where girls who are confined are exposed to increased risks of excision" and where "a project to relegate child marriage is on the agenda" .
Poor countries are where young girls are most at risk.
Because, recalls Yvan Savy, "marrying a child when you are a very vulnerable family facing an untenable economic situation, that means freeing yourself from a burden".
On the other side of the Atlantic, another danger threatens young women, "since there are setbacks on the issue of abortion in Brazil", he explains.
School, "the best bulwark for girls in the face of these problems"
Going to school is therefore the "best bulwark for girls in the face of these problems", underlines the director of the NGO Plan international France.
In its press release, Unesco urges the education authorities to ensure a rapid return to school, while taking measures for the health and safety of pupils and school personnel.
"The education crisis is still as serious", declared Audrey Azoulay, the director general of Unesco, quoted in the press release.
>> Find all the newspapers of the editorial staff of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here
"Several generations find themselves threatened by these school closures which concern hundreds of millions of students and have now continued 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.