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September 17, 2021

Anna Murray 

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has urged governments to reopen schools as soon as possible. According to a report released on September 16 by UNICEF, schools in approximately 17 countries remain completely closed, while those in 39 countries remain partially closed. Schools are still closed for nearly 77 million students 18 months into the pandemic, according to the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

As suggested in the report, teachers should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines after health workers and those most at risk in order to protect them from community transmission. According to UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, school closures are a crisis that must be resolved as soon as possible by every community, everywhere.

On September 16, at 13:00 GMT, UNICEF and affiliates' digital channels were shut down for 18 hours to commemorate 18 months of school closures and to send a single message to the world: Reopen schools as soon as possible. Fore, of UNICEF, pledged the world not to ignore the crisis and the 18 months of lost learning.