Children from poorer communities as well as girls, the disabled, immigrants and ethnic minorities were at a distinct educational disadvantage in many countries, the UN’s Paris-based education body Unesco said. In 2018, “258 million children and youth were entirely excluded from education, with poverty as the main obstacle to access,” the report found. This represented 17 percent of all school-age children, most of them in south and central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Some 335 million girls attended schools that did not provide them with the water, sanitation and hygiene services they need to stay in class while menstruating. Unesco urged countries to focus on disadvantaged children when schools reopen after coronavirus lockdowns.

Source: Manila Times June 23, 2020 00:11 UTC