Remote learning setting back millions of children in South Asia: UNICEF

In India, 80% of children aged 14-18 reported lower levels of learning than when physically at school

Hundreds of millions of children in South Asian are suffering because their schools have been closed because of the coronavirus but they lack online devices and connections for remote learning, UNICEF said on Thursday.

Authorities should prioritise the safe reopening of schools because even before the pandemic, almost 60 per cent of children in the densely populated region were unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10, the UN children's agency said.

"School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low