COVID-19 Has Exacerbated School Exclusion: UNESCO

The agency's 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report says poorer children, girls, the disabled and immigrants are among those at a disadvantage, and that the situation got worse with COVID-19 when more than 90 percent of the world's schoolchildren found their learning affected by closures. While those from better-off families had internet and wifi connections and were able to use laptops and mobile phones, millions of youngsters were left out. 'Health crises can leave many behinds, in particular the poorest girls, many of whom may never return to school,' wrote Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO's director-general.