PARIS: Nearly 260 million children had no access to schooling in 2018, a United Nations agency said in a report Tuesday that blamed poverty and discrimination for educational inequalities that are being exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak.
And while children from families with means could continue schooling from home using laptops, mobile phones and the Internet, millions of others were cut off entirely. Children with disabilities were 19 per cent less likely to achieve minimum reading proficiency in 10 of these nations. In the United States, LGBTI students were almost three times more likely to have stayed home from school because they felt unsafe.
Some 335 million girls attended schools that did not provide them with the water, sanitation and hygiene services they need to stay in class while menstruating.