The UNICEF has called for prioritising teachers along with frontline health personnel and high-risk populations in vaccination against Covid-19 allowing them to teach in person, and ultimately keep schools open.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on children’s education around the globe. Vaccinating teachers is a critical step towards putting it back on track,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore in a statement on Tuesday.
She said at their peak in late April 2020, nationwide school closures disrupted the learning of almost 90 per cent of students worldwide, reports BSS.
“While that number has dropped since, there continues to be an unsupported assumption that closing schools may slow the spread of the disease, despite increasing evidence that schools are not the main driver of community transmission,” she added.
As a result, as cases are skyrocketing in many countries around the world, communities are again closing schools, the UNICEF Executive Director said, adding that as of December 1, classrooms are closed for nearly 1 in 5 schoolchildren globally – or 320 million children.
“While decisions about vaccine allocation ultimately rest with governments, the consequences of extended missed or impaired education are steep, especially for the most marginalised. The longer children remain out of school, the less likely they are to return, and the more difficult it is for their parents to resume work,” she said.
“These are difficult decisions that force difficult tradeoffs. But what should not be difficult is the decision to do everything in our power to safeguard the future of the next generation. This begins by safeguarding those responsible for opening that future up for them,” she added.
