If schools all around the world were just one big classroom, 168 million children would be marked “absent” in the class attendance due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
UNICEF, on Wednesday, March 3, unveiled its “Pandemic Classroom” at United Nations Headquarters in New York to call attention to the need for governments to prioritize the reopening of schools.
To call attention to the education emergency and raise awareness about the need for governments to keep schools open - or prioritize them in reopening plans - UNICEF unveiled the “Pandemic Classroom.”
It is a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks - each desk representing the million children living in countries where schools have been almost entirely closed.
This, UNICEF said, is a “solemn reminder” of the classrooms in every corner of the world that remain empty.
“This classroom represents the millions of centers of learning that have sat empty—many for almost the entire year,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“Behind each empty chair hangs an empty backpack—a placeholder for a child’s deferred potential,” she added.
UNICEF noted that schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year due to COVID-19 lockdowns.
Furthermore, it added that “around 214 million children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning.”
“We do not want shuttered doors and closed buildings to obscure the fact that our children’s futures are being put on indefinite pause,” Fore said.
“This installation is a message to governments: we must prioritize reopening schools, and we must prioritize reopening them better than they were before,” she added.
UNICEF Philippines, in a statement, also outlined the “overwhelming evidence” of the impact of school closures on children.
“School closures have devastating consequences for children’s learning and wellbeing,” UNICEF said.
“The most vulnerable children and those unable to access remote learning are at an increased risk of never returning to the classroom, and even being forced into child marriage or child labor,” it added.
Citing latest data by UNESCO, it was noted that “more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures.”
“The majority of schoolchildren worldwide rely on their schools as a place where they can interact with their peers, seek support, access health and immunization services and a nutritious meal,” UNICEF said.
“The longer schools remain closed, the longer children are cut off from these critical elements of childhood,” it added.
As the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic nears, UNICED reminded of the catastrophic education emergency worldwide lockdowns have created.
“With every day that goes by, children unable to access in-person schooling fall further and further behind, with the most marginalized paying the heaviest price,” Fore ended.