The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed in a report that at least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on early childhood education in their critical pre-school year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Development Diaries reports.
Titled ‘Childcare in a global crisis: The impact of Covid-19 on work and family life’, the report noted that lockdowns have left many parents struggling to balance childcare and paid employment, with a disproportionate burden placed on women who, on average, spend more than three times longer on care and housework than men.
The Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, said, ‘Education disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are preventing children from getting their education off to the best possible start. Childcare and early childhood education build a foundation upon which every aspect of children’s development relies. The pandemic is putting that foundation under serious threat’.
With regard to the UNICEF report, it said, ‘The closures have also exposed a deeper crisis for families of young children especially in low- and middle-income countries, many of whom were already unable to access social protection services. Childcare is essential in providing children with integrated services, affection, protection, stimulation, and nutrition and, at the same time, enables them to develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
‘Lack of childcare and early education options also leave many parents, particularly mothers working in the informal sector, with no choice but to bring their young children to work. More than nine in ten women in Africa and nearly seven in ten in Asia and the Pacific work in the informal sector and have limited to no access to any form of social protection. Many parents become trapped in this unreliable, poorly paid employment, contributing to intergenerational cycles of poverty’.
UNICEF advocates accessible, affordable, and quality childcare from birth to children’s entry into the first grade of school. It offers guidance on how governments and employers can improve their childcare and early childhood education policies.
Source: SL Concord Times
Photo source: Simon Berry
