School Closed Here How We Can Help Them Keep Learning

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Closing Schools Has Derailed the Lives of Kids All Over the World. Here's How We Can Help Them Keep Learning

ANGELINA JOLIE , AUDREY AZOULAY March 26, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a series of traumas that make each of us rethink the meaning of our humanity. Efforts to slow the spread of the disease have demanded enormous sacrifices.

We have seen health care workers and others on the front lines put themselves at great risk, without hesitation, to protect all of us. The decision to close schools is another significant sacrifice: 87% of all the world’s students — well over a billion and a half young people — are now unable to attend class because of nationwide school closures in 165 countries.

As is so often the case with human nature, when we are deprived of something, its value becomes clear. Education is about much more than just classroom learning. For millions of children and youth, schools are a lifeline of opportunity as well as a shield. Classrooms offer protection — or at least a reprieve — from violence, exploitation and other difficult circumstances. In the U.S, some 22 million children rely on school for the hot daily meal that stands between them and hunger. In fragile countries, school closures have the potential to be devastating and permanently derail children’s futures.

When schools shut down for more than a few weeks, early marriages increase, more children are recruited into militias, sexual exploitation of girls and young women rises, teenage pregnancies increase, and child labor rises. The converse is also true: education significantly improves not only the life prospects of individuals, but the stability and prosperity of whole societies