DHAKA-- - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said here Monday that 37 million Bangladesh children had their education disrupted by one of the world's longest pandemic school closures.
On the International Day of Education that falls on Monday, UNICEF shared the latest available data on the impact of the pandemic on children's learning as the world is to mark two years of disruption to education globally by COVID-19 in March.
The UN agency said more than 635 million students remain affected globally by full or partial school closures.
More than 370 million children globally missed out on school meals during school closures, losing what is for some children the only reliable source of food and daily nutrition, it added.
While schools reopened in September 2021, the Bangladeshi government announced a new school closure from Jan. 23 to Feb. 6, said UNICEF.
"Closing schools must be a temporary measure of last resort in the COVID-19 response. Schools should be among the last institutions to close, and among the first to reopen, as we put in measures to tackle infection waves," said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative to Bangladesh.
"In March, we will mark two years of COVID-19-related disruptions to global education. Quite simply, we are looking at a nearly insurmountable scale of loss to children's schooling," said Robert Jenkins, UNICEF global chief of education.
He further said that while the disruptions to learning must end, just reopening schools is not enough.
"Students need intensive support to recover lost education. Schools must also go beyond places of learning to rebuild children's mental and physical health, social development and nutrition," he noted.
Bangladesh recorded 14,828 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 15 more deaths on Monday, bringing the total tally to 1,699,964 with 28,238 deaths, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 positivity rate in the Asian country surged to 32.37 percent from 31.29 percent on Sunday.
The official data showed that 45,807 samples were tested across the country in the past 24 hours.