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The physical classroom has been replaced by the Zoom room, where my children wave to their friends and talk to their teachers through a little box. The emotional, developmental and learning costs of this transition from the classroom to the Zoom room are visible every day.
But my children are among the privileged few. For most of India, even the Zoom room is a luxury. In September 2021, a survey of 1,400 schoolchildren from disadvantaged homes across 15 states found that just 8% of children in rural areas and 24% in urban areas had access to regular online education. In effect, the bulk of India’s children have had no regular schooling for two years.
India is not alone. School closures affected 1.6 billion children across the globe. However, lower- and middle-income countries have closed schools for far longer than most higher-income countries. In parts of South Asia, Latin America and Africa, schools have been fully closed for over 80 weeks. Uganda, which reopened schools in…
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