In 2020, schools globally were fully closed for an average of 79 teaching days. However, for 168 million students, after the pandemic began, schools were shuttered for nearly the entire year. Even now, many children are facing an unprecedented second year of disruption to their education, and prolonging the first year of School which sets up the building blocks for all future learning, with introductions to reading, writing, and math.
Jacob Eyeru, the Chairperson of the National Youth Council says that instead of making alternatives to education accessible to young people during this crisis, the government chose to increase data fees which cut off some young people from accessing the internet.
