COVID-19 has deprived children of their right to an education, with girls being the most vulnerable.

• COVID-19 has had a significant impact on children's schooling.
  
• Currently, 38 million children around the world are completely illiterate. For the most vulnerable, the consequences of this lack of education will be far-reaching.
• UNESCO founded the Global Education Coalition to mobilise and encourage learning continuity with the ultimate goal of defending the right to education.

While the COVID-19 crisis has mostly protected children from its catastrophic health consequences, it has had a significant influence on their schooling. School closures have had far-reaching consequences, and the negative consequences for the most vulnerable children will last a lifetime.

COVID-19 has come at a high price in terms of interruption. Currently, 38 million children around the world are completely illiterate. Children have lost an estimated 1.8 trillion hours of in-person learning since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Between March 2020 and September 2021, 131 million pupils in 11 nations, ranging from pre-primary (ages 3 to 6) to upper secondary (ages 14 to 18), missed at least three quarters of their classroom teaching time.

Over 100 million additional children will fall below the minimal reading competency level as a result of these partial school closures and disturbances in family life.

Learning losses at a young age have far-reaching consequences. They can easily cause them to fall behind in school, making it harder for them to catch up, and compromising their ability to continue their education.

Eleven million girls may not return to school, reversing decades of progress toward gender equality and, more importantly, putting them at greater danger of adolescent pregnancy, early and forced marriage, and violence. When viewed through the prism of gender, the image becomes even more bleak.

Inequality in internet access exacerbates existing inequities.

When the COVID-19 issue erupted and schools were forced to close, governments all over the world responded positively to the demand for remote learning alternatives. TV, radio, recorded audio and video, as well as live mobile sessions, have all been used to teach children remotely.

However, 2.2 billion individuals (two out of every three children and young adults aged 25 and under) do not have access to the internet at home. In low-income countries, internet coverage is dangerously low: only 6% of the population has access to the internet, compared to 87 percent in high-income countries. Three out of every four students who are unable to access remote learning options are from rural areas and/or impoverished households, exacerbating existing inequities in educational access.

When countries are unprepared for distance learning,

UNICEF recently released The Remote Learning Readiness Index (RLRI), a new composite indicator that assesses a country's readiness to deliver remote learning.

While nations like the Philippines, Barbados, and Argentina scored highly on the RLRI measure, more than 31 countries – or more than 200 million kids – are unprepared to use remote learning in times of crisis. The RLRI is also incomplete, as it does not account for challenges beyond its assessment.

Poor connectivity has become a major barrier that stops children and young people from engaging in effective and participatory forms of learning, with far-reaching consequences.

Impacts that go beyond education

School closures have an impact on children's mental health and well-being in addition to their academic performance. According to a UNESCO poll, children around the world face social isolation, a lack of nutrition, and a lack of physical activity, all of which have an impact on their development.

India's current situation

COVID-19 has had the greatest influence on rural and youth education in India. According to the 2021 Annual Status of Education Report, one in three children in classes I and II (grades 1 and 2) have never attended an in-person class during the pandemic, with the youngest learners having the "least access to technology" (ASER).

Almost a third of all students in grades I and II did not have access to a smartphone at home.

Children who live in rural or disadvantaged areas face even more educational isolation.

Only 8% of rural children studied online on a regular basis, according to a survey conducted by the School Children's Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) in 15 states and union territories in August 2021. Thirty-seven percent of those polled said they were not studying at all.

In the study, nearly half of the children were illiterate.

The SCHOOL study found that two-thirds of parents believe their children have fallen behind because they are unable to attend schooling online, with reading and writing skills deteriorating.

Recovery and capability in education must be a top priority.

School closures and remote learning will continue to be a burden as the pandemic unfolds, hurting the learning, development, and well-being of a generation of children. To avoid a generational catastrophe, it is vital to prioritise education recovery.

This isn't the last global health catastrophe we'll confront, so we need to focus on making education systems more resilient worldwide, starting with the countries that are least prepared for mobile learning. Nations must develop the capacity to provide high-quality education to disadvantaged and underprivileged children who are frequently disregarded.

UNESCO founded the Global Education Coalition to mobilise and encourage learning continuity with the ultimate goal of defending the right to education.

We must apply the lessons learnt from this tragedy to education around the world, developing comprehensive contingency plans and strong national infrastructure to deliver education in a variety of formats. Once the current crisis has passed, governments must continue to expand distance learning and include components into ordinary teaching for all children and youth so that we can more smoothly transition into the next crisis.

During this and future crises, vigilance is — and will be — vital to avoid the most vulnerable's learning from falling through the cracks.