UN report says over 70 crore students don't have access to internet for distance learning

The coronavirus lockdown has shut schools and universities across the world forcing students to take distance learning through online apps like Zoom, Skype, etc. The United Nations' educational agency UNESCO has said that over 826 million (82.6 crores) students under coronavirus lockdown worldwide have been left out of online learning because of a lack of access to a household computer. The report further states that around 43% per cent of the 82 crore pupils, that is around 70.6 crores, have no internet at home.  

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According to the UN body, the figures have been compiled by the Teacher Task Force, an international alliance coordinated by UNESCO, on the basis of data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the International Telecommunication Union. According to the report, around 1.5 billion students and 63 million primary and secondary teachers across 191 countries are affected by coronavirus lockdown. 

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"While efforts to provide connectivity to all must be multiplied, we now know that continued teaching and learning cannot be limited to online means", stated Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General. "To lessen already existing inequalities, we must also support other alternatives including the use of community radio and television broadcasts, and creativity in all ways of learning. These are solutions we are addressing with our Global Coalition partners". 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak has infected over 2.58 million people globally and has killed nearly 1,80,000 patients since it first broke out in December 2019. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Other countries that are currently the worst affected are the United States Italy, Spain, France, Iran, and the United Kingdom, where the death tolls have surpassed 17,000 mark each and in the case of US, it has crossed 45,000. 

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(Image Credit: AP)