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NEW YORK. — UNICEF yesterday unveiled a “Pandemic Classroom”, a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks, each representing a million children worldwide whose schools have been entirely closed for almost a year, due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

The move is to draw attention to the “profound impact” of keeping students out of school as the organisation calls on world leaders to reopen schools as soon as possible – within coronavirus-prevention sanitary guidelines.

Robert Jenkins, the Global Chief of Education for UNICEF, shares his insight on the matter.

“What we’ve learned from such prolonged school closures has a profound impact particularly on vulnerable and marginalized children. So we’re calling for all governments to open schools now. Schools should be the first to open during the reopening process, to take all actions to do so safely, to also provide comprehensive support as children reenter schools.”

According to the latest data by UNESCO, more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures. — africanews.