The tragic Covid 19 affair also profoundly affected the education system, leading to an unprecedented impact, with schools closing all over the world. Jacques Attali reports several emblematic figures: in April 2020, 94 percent of the world’s children (1.6 billion) were no longer in classrooms, a condition shared by 220 million university students.
Video call platforms quickly took over, with the advent of Zoom, Skype, Teams, Meet and many others, and tried to buffer educational needs by remotely connecting teachers and learners. But they have not been sufficient to provide a credible educational service.
The consequences were disastrous: a Bellwether Education Partner study conducted in the United States estimated that some 3 million students may have dropped out of school during that period.
Significant increases in mental disorders have been found in the youth population, among children, adolescents and teens, due to the absence of social life and forced confinement within the walls of the home, with cases of depression and anxiety doubling among young people, in more developed countries.
Distance education, in an unprepared family and school environment, has foundered resoundingly. Particularly in developing countries, 500 million children have been unable to access On Line classes and tens of millions have dropped out of school.
Italiano