Coronavirus Update: 290 Million Kids Affected By COVID-19 Outbreak, Forced To Miss School

Fears, warranted or not, of massive COVID-19 infections have led many governments to suspend classes at schools and universities for a month or more, disrupting the schooling of 290 million students and adding to parental burdens.

As of March 4, 22 countries in three different continents have announced or implemented school closures, ccording a new UNESCO report. Just two weeks ago, China was the only country mandating closures. Of this total, 13 countries, including China, Japan and Italy, have gone ahead and closed down their school systems. Nine other countries have some schools closed at the local level. Should these countries order nationwide shut downs, an additional 180 million children will be shut out of school.

UNESCO’s report, however, doesn't include India who on Thursday closed all schools through the fifth grade in New Delhi until April. With 30 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths as of Friday, India is the 27th most infected country in the world.

UNESCO said most of the involuntarily locked-out students come from China, where the outbreak originated. Across China and including special administration regions Hong Kong and Macau, more than 233 million students are not in school because of COVID-19. The next largest number of at-home students is in Japan with 16.5 million displaced students, according to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics.

UNESCO affirmed the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the education of nearly 290 million students across the world and threatens their future educational rights. It said the number of children missing school globally is unparalleled.

“While temporary school closures as a result of health and other crises are not new unfortunately, the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in a statement.

The United States has only seen a few school closures so far. Schools that have closed are located in the three states hardest hit by the COVID-19 contagion. These states are Washington, California and New York. New York state and New York City have also closed some schools. Los Angeles said school closures were a possibility and to be prepared.

Azoulay said UNESCO is working with countries to assure the continuity of learning for all, especially disadvantaged children and youth that tend to be the hardest hit by school closures.