Paris-Sana
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned that the percentage of children who did not meet the minimum level of reading skills increased by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the closures imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
"AFP" agency quoted a report by the organization as saying ... that more than 100 million children did not meet the minimum reading skills due to the closures imposed by the Corona pandemic.
The report indicated that the number of children who lack basic reading skills was deteriorating before the pandemic and it was expected that this number would decrease from 483 million students to 460 million students in 2020. To 584 million children in 2020, which recorded an increase of nearly 20 percent and eroded the progress made by the efforts made in the education sector over the past two decades.
This main indicator annually measures the reading gains of second and third grade students. It is considered basic knowledge, if not fully acquired, that may in the long run hinder students' study.
UNESCO warned of what it described as a "generational catastrophe", expressing its fear of disturbances that may take a decade due to the health crisis and its repercussions, which calls for exceptional efforts to provide remedial lessons and remedial strategies.
The report indicated that 65 percent of the governments of low-income countries reduced funding allocated to education in them, compared to 35 percent of the governments of high-income countries, noting that the rates of education losses reached their highest levels in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Central and South Asia.
The report indicated that schools are fully open in nearly half of the world's countries only, while they are still completely closed in 30 countries, indicating that there is an increasing trend to take measures to keep schools partially open in a number of countries.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said that the crisis showed the extent to which education is a global public good, calling on the international community to mobilize.
