Female Students Despair As Opportunities For Education Disappear, Due To The Global Impact Of Covid And Climate Crises
Irish Development and Humanitarian organisations are warning of an education access crisis in the developing world, as 168 million students face another year outside the classroom.
The associated consequences of school closures – learning loss, mental distress, missed vaccinations, and heightened risk of drop out, child labour, and child marriage – will be felt by many children, especially the youngest learners in critical development stages.
“The children who fall behind in learning during the early years often stay behind for the remaining time they spend in school, and the gap widens over the years.
The number of years of education a child receives also directly affects their future earnings”, said Suzanne Keatinge, CEO of Dóchas.
In many cases, there is no school to go back to, as conflicts rage in war-torn regions and families flee for their safety.
Covid has turned their world upside down.
We have member organisations on the ground trying to work with families to maintain some sort of normalcy for their children.
Now more than ever, we need to do more as a nation to help our members continue their vital work” said Keatinge.
Dóchas are calling on the Irish government to both maintain and increase the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in Budget 2022.
Currently Ireland contributes just 0.31% of its GNI to ODA, and even though there is a commitment to reach 0.7% by 2030 in the Programme for Government, our contributions have stagnated in recent years.
Unless mitigation measures are implemented, the World Bank estimates a loss of $10 trillion in earnings over time for this entire generation of students.
Existing evidence shows the cost of addressing learning gaps are lower and more effective when they are tackled earlier, and that investments in education support economic recovery, growth and prosperity.
According to data from Plan International, up to 11 million girls may now never return to school and girls living in conflict-affected areas are more likely to be out of school.
“The future of the world’s most vulnerable children is at stake.
We cannot afford to do less, as millions of children see their hopes vanishing with every day their schools remain shut” said Paul O’ Brien, Chief Executive Officer of Plan International Ireland.
UNICEF estimates that there were 1.6 billion children out of school at the beginning of the pandemic, as lockdowns were implemented.
According to UNFPA projections, a lack of access to modern contraceptives over six months of lockdown could account for up to 7 million unintended pregnancies worldwide, increasing pressure on already scant resources in many countries.
