 Children lost out on more than one-third of a school years' worth of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis has found. Their mathematics skills were more affected than their reading abilities.
The study, published in Nature Human Behavior , shows that efforts to prevent further learning losses after the pandemic have been successful, but school-aged children have not caught up on the loss of knowledge and skills that they experienced at the start of the pandemic, during which school closures were widespread.
"This is going to be a real problem for this generation that experienced the pandemic in school," says Bastian Betthäuser, a sociologist at the University of Oxford, UK, and a co-author of the study. If not addressed, these learning losses will affect this generation's success in the labour market, he adds.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the largest disruption to education in history: 95% of the world's student population was affected by school closures. According to the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO, schools suspended in-person teaching for an average of 3.5 months during the pandemic.
The learning slowdown during the pandemic was not just an outcome of school closures, but a combination of factors involving home learning environments. These include "access to learning equipment, computers, digital resources, having a quiet room to work in … and economic insecurity amongst family", says Betthäuser. "The pandemic reinforced learning inequality at the global level.
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There was a lack of data from lower-income countries, but the study found that children from more disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds in high- and middle-income countries have experienced larger learning losses. The authors predict that the pandemic's effects on learning will be more severe for children in poorer regions.
"Those students were suffering before the pandemic, they suffered more during the pandemic, and now, as we're trying to get our way out of this, they're going to receive less than others to recover," says Amanda Neitzel, a researcher at the John Hopkins School of Education in Baltimore, Maryland.
Policy initiatives to help children to recover lost learning and skills are urgently needed, researchers say. "This isn't going to be something that we catch up in a year or two, when everything is back to normal i think this is going to be a decade long," says Neitzel. "We need to rethink schooling and make substantial changes to the structure and way that we do education to make this up."
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Representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil, told reporters in Geneva adding that, with homes destroyed, children are facing a "bitter winter, without decent shelter".
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded around 365 cases of child sexual abuse last year. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded around 365 cases of child sexual abuse last year with four victims of those offences being killed by culprits, said provincial additional inspector general of police Mohammad Ali.
Project team is in process of rolling out catch up classes for girls & boy's age 11-16 years in the flood affected communities of Dadu, Sindh. Team has so far established two child friendly centers for more than 80 children. SPARC and ACTED are jointly preparing to build the capacities of personal working on education. Under this intervention government schools that are partially damaged and unable to support teaching-learning process will be supported through minor rehab work.
To increase access of children and adolescents affected by floods to inclusive and quality learning opportunities project team is in process of selection of teachers who have the passion and enthusiasm to establish safe and friendly learning environment in temporary learning centers established at rural areas of kashmore and Jacobabad, Sindh. Secretary education Sindh and the other relevant government departments are providing full support in identification of communities, schools, learners and teachers.
SPARC organized an interactive session between policy makers and tobacco control activists on importance of the need to adopt a sustainable National Tobacco Control Policy which ensures that no anti-child move is made now or in future. SPARC shared these views with policy makers to stress upon the need of implementing strict tobacco control measures to save Pakistani children and youth from the pandemic of tobacco. Key legislators from all political parties attended this event and supported the notion of increasing tobacco taxation and implementing other measures. 
Stakeholders Meeting Conducted at District Umerkot to Analyze the Impact of Flood on Brick Kiln Workers in Sindh 
Flood-affected children gathered at the temporary learning center (TLC) Hyderabad. SPARC had arranged educational packs for the children which included books, stationary items and other materials. The children were overjoyed with the books. They could not wait to start reading their new. This book distribution at the temporary learning center in Hyderabad was a heartwarming event that brought the community together and provided the children with an opportunity to broaden their knowledge.
Children continue to pay the highest price of violence," the statement declared. "As the situation remains very volatile, UNICEF fears that an increasing number of children will suffer." Just a few weeks into the New Year, seven Palestinian children and one Israeli child had been killed and many more injured. This year, news reports indicate that some 30 Palestinians had reportedly been killed in the West Bank – including a 14-year-old boy. A similar pattern in 2022 led to the deaths of more than 150 Palestinians and 20 Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
