Students have lost over 1.8 trillion in-class hours to Covid - UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as part of its ‘reopen schools Asap’ campaign says the number of in-class hours that schoolchildren around the world have lost due to the novel coronavirus pandemic is over 1.8 trillion.

It following the lost instructional hours has urged leaders of countries where schools have been shut down amid the locally transmitted coronavirus to reopen immediately for the prospective students to resume academic activities.

“The Covid-19 has cost schoolchildren around the world over 1,826,402,916,679 in-class hours. They cannot wait any longer. Reopen schools as soon as possible and protect the future of an entire generation,” UNICEF stated in a post.

According to the United States Agency, evidence collected since the outbreak of the global novel coronavirus (Covid) which first emerged in Wuhan China, shows that children and schools are not the main drivers of the pandemic.

The Agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide in the post sighted by EducationWeb.com.gh said the health risks to children from deadly coronavirus so far have remained low.

“We urge leaders to prioritise education and ensure schools remain open and safe for the sake of the individual children and also for the future of their communities and countries,” the United Nations Children’s Fund said.

President Nana Akufo-Addo last year after Ghana reportedly recorded a case of the deadly virus in March directed for all educational institutions in the country to be closed down as part of measures to slow and curb the killer virus.

However, His Excellency Akufo-Addo later on the advice of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and other health experts in a televised address to the nation announced for some students to return to school under strict covid-19 protocols.

Schools since mid-January 2021 have been reopened to students at all levels despite the surge in cases of the locally transmitted virus that as of the time writing this post claimed the lives of 1,098 persons in the country.