Around 40m students confined to homes in Bangladesh: Unesco

Imagine you are a primary or a secondary student. What will be your daily activities? Preparing for going to the school; having fun during the lunch break; going to play on the field or having chit-chats with friends; and meeting with the school friends or local friends once a day. Sounds like a perfect day, doesn't it? 

Sadly, those days are gone for students in Bangladesh, at least till 9 April.

On March 16, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni announced the closure of all educational institutions from 18th to the 31st of this month to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus or Covid-19. Later, the closure was extended for nine days more.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the global spread of the coronavirus has forced almost 40 million learners to stay at home in Bangladesh. These students constitute 24.53 percent of the total population of Bangladesh.

Among the students, the primary school goers are the highest in number – 17.34 million, followed by those in the secondary level – 15.87 million. The number in the tertiary level is 3.15 million.

As many as 3.58 million preprimary-level children are also affected by the virus outbreak.

Unesco on Tuesday said the number of students confined to their home because of the worldwide spread of the coronavirus quadrupled in the last 10 days, reaching 1.37 billion in 138 countries. This number is nearly 80 percent of the world's student population, meaning 4 in every 5 students are now staying home.

Moreover, 60.2 million teachers are unable to be in the classrooms worldwide.

The number is still rising. 

The latest Unesco data also reveal the number affected learners in 156 countries in the world is 1.42 billion, which is 82.5 percent of the total enrolled students.

In India, 320.71 million learners are currently affected, while in Pakistan the number of affected students is 46.80. 

Other South Asian countries have also gone for nationwide closure of educational institutions. Currently, 9.98 million learners in Afghanistan, 8.80 million in Nepal, 5.22 million in Sri Lanka and 0.19 million learners in Bhutan are confined to their home due to Covid-19.

However, Unesco has recommended the use of distance learning programmes to limit the disruption of education. 

The Bangladesh government has undertaken initiative to broadcast classes for secondary-school-level students while some universities are operating online classes to limit the plunk.

Mentionable, the first coronavirus case in the country was confirmed on March 8 and the total number of infected patients currently stands at 39.