Only half of schools worldwide resumed classroom learning

New Delhi: Nineteen months after the Covid-19 pandemic forced school closures worldwide, only half of the schools across the globe have resumed classroom teaching and learning while around 34 per cent schools are relying on mixed or hybrid instruction mode, according to the Covid-19 Global Education Recovery Tracker. The tracker has been jointly created by […]

New Delhi: Nineteen months after the Covid-19 pandemic forced school closures worldwide, only half of the schools across the globe have resumed classroom teaching and learning while around 34 per cent schools are relying on mixed or hybrid instruction mode, according to the Covid-19 Global Education Recovery Tracker.

The tracker has been jointly created by Johns Hopkins University, the World Bank, and UNICEF to assist countries’ decision-making by tracking reopening and Covid-19 recovery planning efforts in more than 200 countries.

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According to the tracked data, 80 per cent of schools worldwide are in regular session. Out of those, 54 per cent are back to in-person instruction, 34 per cent are relying on mixed or hybrid instruction while 10 per cent continue remote instruction and 2 per cent offer no instruction at all.

While the tracker noted that only 53 per cent of countries are prioritising vaccinating teachers, the World Bank has recommended that countries should no longer wait to get their population or school staff fully vaccinated before reopening schools.

The World Bank has been advocating reopening of schools and evaluating the risks associated with further prolonged closures of schools across the globe.

“In countries where there were fewer than 36 to 44 new Covid-19 hospitalisations per 1 lakh population per week before reopening, school reopenings did not increase Covid-19 hospitalisations, even up to six weeks afterwards. In countries with higher hospitalisation rates prior to school reopenings, study results were inconclusive on whether reopenings generated an increase in Covid-related hospitalisations.

Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a global shutdown of schools in more than 188 countries, leaving 1.6 billion children — 75 per cent of enrolled students — out of school.
Citing evidence about low transmission of Covid-19 among children, the World Bank said data from population surveillance studies and contact tracing studies suggest that in comparison to adults and adolescents, young children, particularly those under the age of 10, are considerably less susceptible to contracting Covid-19 and much less likely to transmit the disease.