The last pandemic has not only cost people their health but it has various unmeasured mental, psychological and cognitive disability effects on the students who missed their school and waste the valuable learning time. The early year schooling and primary level students are among those who suffered a lot in South Asia especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The UNICEF team conducted interviews to collect the data from these countries. Data is quite terrible and showed that most of them could not return to school and engaged in some kind of labor work. This is the narrative we have taken from developing countries but from developed countries like the European Union the story is not so different. Data revealed that around 147 million students missed their classes during the pandemic and could not return to school after reopening.
The worst thing was that millions of students have lost their social network which affects their mental health, have been deprived of nutritious meals, safe places and a place to joy. Talking about girls, million girls were forced to get married specially from the backward and rural areas. A girl from Baluchistan revealed an interesting story that when we went to school, my cousins also showed their interest for school and got admitted upon persistent insisting. But pandemic also had proved as an endemic for girl education and learning opportunity in the rural areas.
These are few stories but there are many who have suffered and couldn’t raise their voices. The stunted learning during pandemic years is going to be in the memories of many children.