There is no denying school closure continuing for almost a year was an essential step in the wake of the virus outbreak, but it is also true that it is affecting the students.  Firstly, the scourge of school closure has already dealt a heavy blow to our education system. According to the United Nations, the pandemic has disrupted the education systems to a very alarming extent, affecting students in more than 190 countries. As of 12 January 2021, approximately 825 million learners are affected badly because of school closures, according to reports by UNICEF.

On the other hand, because of the closure of schools and other learning spaces, 94 per cent of the world’s student population are affected whereas the rate is higher — up to 99 per cent — in low and lower-middle-income countries.

Secondly, such disruption is limiting the access of cross-sections of people to education and widening discrimination in the education sector. Despite the fact that online education programmes are underway, learning during pandemic could not be made inclusive as a significant portion of our population especially those in abject poverty does not have any access to online education owing to unavailability of the devices and modern amenities necessary to attend the virtual classes.

Consequently, many of the students from rural backwater are actually lagging behind. This discrimination will also put further educational prospect of those children in jeopardy since such a lengthy gap will knock the wind out of their (low-income families) sails, which will eventually push the drop-out rate higher.

The third point is the most staggering one. As schools are not functioning, many parents living in the hamlets are finding it more appropriate to marry off their teenage girls. As a result, child marriage rate is creeping up, which may turn all the aspirations related to girls’ education into a pipedream. As it transpired, a total of 778 child marriage incidents, of which 683 were prevented straightaway, was reported between January and September of last year by BRAC’s Community Empowerment Programme (CEP).

To cap it all, if the closure is continued for a few more months, it will slow down children’s overall growth along with many other knock-on consequences. On the one hand, children are now confined within the four walls of their houses, on the other hand their screen-time has also increased because of absence of exuberant physical activity.

UNESCO in one of its reports has highlighted some of the challenges of school closures where they have claimed factors such as pandemic-induced social isolation, inability of parents to calibrate and validate learning, and increased exposure of children to violence, altercations and exploitation going on unabated at home will have serious consequences on a child’s health.

However, we must flip the side and will also have to think about the safety of the students. That’s why schools must not be opened right now.