UN installation highlights virus impact on schools

A U.N. art installation on display at the world body's headquarters in New York calls attention to a global education emergency brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic. The 'Pandemic Classroom,' aims to raise awareness about the need for governments to keep schools open.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) installation is a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks. According the UN agency, each desk represents the million children living in countries where schools have been almost entirely closed because of the pandemic.

Schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to new data released today by UNICEF. Furthermore, around 214 million children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning.

UNICEF's analysis of school closure report notes that 14 countries worldwide have remained largely closed since March 2020 to February 2021. Two-thirds of those countries are in Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting nearly 98 million schoolchildren. Visiting the art installation on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General said, "we have millions of people out of school. And that is a tragedy. A tragedy for them, a tragedy their countries, and a tragedy for the future of humankind."