Page 54 - EducationWorld Feb 2021 Low

Special Report

COUNTING THE COST OF

COVID CHILD DAMAGE

As schools and colleges shut down during the Covid-19
pandemic cautiously reopen, educators are confronted
with challenges of repairing the academic, emotional and
nutrition damage suffered by tens of millions of children
countrywide

Summiya Yasmeen

O NE YEAR AFTER GOVERNMENTS Prolonged school closures in over 180 countries have shut

around the world first discerned the
1.6 billion children out of classrooms, in some countries
(including India) for more than seven months. World Bank
pandemic potential of the Corona-
virus (which originated in Wuhan,
forecasts indicate these children could lose $10 trillion
(Rs.729 lakh crore) by way of income over their working
China in November 2019) and or-
dered the shutdown of industry,
business, trade and education insti-
In India as well, the pandemic has inflicted heavy dam-
age on the education system across the spectrum. The
tutions for varying lengths of time, lives.
the world is still counting the cost country’s 1.4 million anganwadis (government-run child
of the most virulent global pandemic since the Spanish flu nutrition and early childhood education centres), estimat-
of 1914-19 which caused 50 million fatalities worldwide in- ed 55,000 private pre-primaries, 1.5 million K-12 schools,
cluding 12 million in India. Preliminary estimates indicate 41,901 colleges and 1,028 universities have been shuttered
that the cost of the Covid-19 pandemic 2020-21 will be mas- for 11 months following a Central government order issued
sive. Already 102 million people worldwide have been in- last March.
fected and 2.2 million have succumbed to the deadly virus; While 2,500-3,000 top-ranked schools included in the
the global economy has shrunk by 4.4 percent; 400 million annual EducationWorld India School Rankings have re-
full-time jobs have been lost; and incomes have fallen by sponded to the pandemic challenge by switching to online
10 percent in the first nine months of 2020, equivalent to learning-from-home classes, with a mere 8 percent of In-
a loss of over US$3.5 trillion (Rs.255 lakh crore), a sum dian households having access to Internet connectivity and
greater than the annual GDP of India. digital devices, learning has almost stopped for the majority
Yet apart from overt damage caused to industry, busi- of India’s 260 million children and youth in primary-sec-
ness and livelihoods, the rampaging pandemic has in- ondary education, especially in rural India with an estimat-
flicted heavy damage to education institutions worldwide. ed 30 million children having dropped out of school. More-

54 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2021