168 M children marked ‘absent’ due to COVID-19, UNICEF says

If schools all around the world were just one big classroom, 168 million children would be marked “absent” in the class attendance due to the coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic.

UNICEF, on Wednesday, March 3, unveiled its “Pandemic Classroom” at United Nations Headquarters in New York to call attention to the need for governments to prioritize the reopening of schools.

To call attention to the education emergency and raise awareness about the need for governments to keep schools open – or prioritize them in reopening plans – UNICEF unveiled the “Pandemic Classroom.” It is a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks - each desk representing the 168 million children living in countries where schools have been almost entirely closed. This, UNICEF said, is a “solemn reminder” of the classrooms in every corner of the world that remain empty.

“This classroom represents the millions of centers of learning that have sat empty—many for almost the entire year,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Behind each empty chair hangs an empty backpack – a placeholder for a child’s deferred potential,” she added.

UNICEF noted that schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Furthermore, it added that “around 214 million children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning.” “We do not want shuttered doors and closed buildings to obscure the fact that our children’s futures are being put on indefinite pause,” Fore said. “This installation is a message to governments: we must prioritize reopening schools, and we must prioritize reopening them better than they were before,” she added.