(Washington) The generation of young people currently in school risks losing nearly $ 17 trillion in income due to school closures linked to the pandemic, more than initially expected, warn the World Bank and UN agencies.
This amount corresponds to about 14% of current global GDP and is higher than the $ 10 trillion estimated in 2020, said the Washington-based institution, UNESCO and UNICEF, in a report released Monday.
In low- and middle-income countries, the percentage of children not able to read and understand simple text by the age of 10 – which was already over 50% before the pandemic – could quickly reach almost 70% due to the closure of classes and the poorer quality of distance education.
The COVID-19 crisis has crippled education systems around the world. Twenty-one months later, schools remain closed for millions of children, and others may never return to school.
Jaime Saavedra, Education Officer at the World Bank.
“The loss of knowledge that his children undergo is morally unacceptable,” he added. It can have “devastating effects on the productivity, incomes, and well-being of this generation of children and youth, their families, and the economies of the world.”
The health crisis has exacerbated educational inequalities, affecting the poorest children, those with disabilities or the youngest, most severely, the report underlines.
Girls also faced greater difficulties in accessing distance education, “their learning having been restricted by certain social norms, limited digital skills and a lack of access to equipment,” the document said.
If governments have put in place exceptional aid measures to deal with the pandemic, less than 3% of these funds have been devoted to education, deplores international organizations in a press release.