UNESCO supports Pakistan to minimize the academic loss amid COVID-19 outbreak

While Pakistan was facing a chronic education crisis even before it was hit by the Covid-19 outbreak, with the current crises unfolding, the education system is likely to get worse.

According to UNICEF reports, an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 are out-of-school in Pakistan. With the COVID-19 hitting the region, which was already in deep waters, there is a danger of a huge number of students dropping out of schools.

This is likely to include a large number of students living in remote areas, who, due to the unavailability resources and their approach to the new and alternative ways of learning, might never return to schools. The situation will end up in more students drop-outs and more school closures in areas which are vulnerable and hard to reach.

As per the stats published by UNICEF, nearly 10.7 million boys and 8.6 million girls are enrolled at the primary level and this drops to 3.6 million boys and 2.8 million girls at the lower secondary level.

“We are concerned that prolonged school closures could hit girls and the most vulnerable, including those with disabilities the hardest. Girls are often obliged to take care of household chores and look after siblings. We are also concerned about the psychological impact on children of increasing incidents of domestic violence during lockdowns,” said Jim Ackers, Regional Education Adviser at UNICEF’s Regional Office for South Asia.

Earlier this month, UNICEF introduced a theme of’ COVID-19 Education Disruption and Response’ which aims to provide solutions for the problems occurring due to coronavirus. The organization is helping reduce the global educational disorder and is currently collecting and compiling data and statistics to identify the global academic loss due to educational institutions' closure.

The organization is also working closely with educational institutions in the province of Baluchistan and issuing guidelines and support documents and articles to minimize the academic loss in the region.

UNICEF, in partnership with Microsoft, announced the expansion of a global learning platform for the children and youth whose education is severely affected by COVID-19 crises.

Moreover, the organization has updated a list of educational resources on its website which includes educational applications, platforms, and resources for teachers and academics to minimize the academic loss during COVID-19 crises.