A quarter billion in 2018, the number of out of school youth this year is expected to surge according to the United Nations.
An increasing number of out of school youth worldwide
Poverty. This is the reason for the increasing number of out of school youth in undeveloped countries, according to a United Nations report. In South Africa alone, the percentage of children having access to education is almost the same number of out of school youths.
In 2018, more than a quarter-billion children worldwide do not have access to education due to poverty and other minor restraining factors.
Now, that the pandemic happened, one of the largest sectors that were severely paralyzed was education. In addition to poverty, discrimination and racism have seemed to creep in against Asians over the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
When COVID-19 happened, physical classes were no longer possible, and some schools slowly shifted to online learning. The shift to online learning caused an educational rift that affected mostly those students coming from low-income families. Access to the internet and gadgets has become an issue, which led to a lot of students being left behind in learning.
Students affected by the pandemic
The number of students who didn’t have access to online learning during lockdown is quite high, with the reopening of classes in some countries, low -income families are expected to suffer that might lead to an increase in the number of out of school youths worldwide.
DIscrimination has already been a big impact on students during this lockdown. Black, Asians, and Minority ethnicity are being targetted through several discrimination puns against them, causing them to reconsider going into school.
In developing countries such as South Africa who already have a failing education system, the worse is expected. Children will suffer the consequences of a government with a failing education system.