UNICEF welcomes the nation-wide resumption of in-person school attendance after almost two years

Tehran, 3^rd April 2022-UNICEF Iran welcomes the resumption of in-person school attendance across the country after almost two years since the pandemic forced wide-scale school closures.

 UNICEF Iran Representative, Dr. Robin Nandy, commending the Government’s decision to reopen schools nation-wide after 3^rd April said:” I am extremely happy to see schools reopening and providing children the opportunity to attend classes in person. We truly look forward to the sounds of children laughing and playing in school yards and for both students and teachers moving from computer screens and resuming in-person interactions. This will certainly contribute to better teaching and learning, and importantly catching up on lost ground in terms of learning.”

A new UNICEF report released titled ‘Are children really learning?’ featuring country-level data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures on children, points out that 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling over the past 2 years. This amounts to 2 trillion hours of lost in-person learning globally. In addition to data on learning loss, the report points to emerging evidence that many children did not return to school even when their classrooms reopened.

Referring to out-of-school children being some of the most vulnerable and marginalized children in society, Dr. Nandy said:” We count on our partners in the Government to pay special attention to those children who have not returned to school after the recent reopening and ensure measures are taken to return them to their classes.”