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Education replaced by violence and teenage pregnancy as COVID-19 forces school closures
“Education, safety, friends and food have been replaced by anxiety, violence, and teenage pregnancy,” the United Nations Children’s Fund said on Tuesday.
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, “more than 600 million children in countries not on academic break are still affected by school closures”, said James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson, at a press conference at UN Geneva.
In countries such as Uganda, this has led to a “20 per cent spike in the last 15 months in teen pregnancies, or pregnancies of 10-24-year-old girls who were seeking antenatal care. Across the globe in all continents we’ve seen child helplines, a good precursor to understanding kids who are reporting violence, seeing often triple-digit increases.”
In nearly half of countries in Asia and the Pacific, schools have been closed for around 200 days. Latin America and the Caribbean have seen some of the longest closures ever with 18 countries and territories affected by either full or partial closures. As of today, the UN agency estimates in Eastern and Southern Africa that 40 per cent of all children aged five to 18 are currently out of school.
Mr. Elder added that if these figures “did not resonate with those in power”, then perhaps a World Bank report would, as it forecast a loss of $10 trillion in earnings over time for this generation of students.
Equally alarming is the fact that the solution of remote learning is “simply out of reach” for at least a third of the world’s schoolchildren, the UNICEF spokesperson continued.
In East Asia and the Pacific, “80 million children have no access whatsoever to any remote learning. In Eastern and Southern Africa, Uganda schoolchildren have passed over 300 days out of school. Home internet connectivity is the lowest on the planet there at about 0.3 per cent.”
In a call for action, UNICEF appealed for five main steps: schools should reopen as soon as possible, governments and donors must protect the education budget, enrolment should be extended to children who were already out of school pre‑COVID‑19 by removing financial barriers and loosening registration requirements and cash transfers to the most vulnerable must be increased.
“Everything needs to be done to bring an end to the pandemic,” Mr. Elder said, starting with making vaccines available everywhere by sharing excess doses and financing to support the roll-out of vaccines.
ends
STORY: Impact of COVID-19 on education
TRT: 02:55
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 27.07 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1: Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying.
2: Wide shot, journalists listening to press room briefing
3: SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) James Elder, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson: “Education, safety, friends and food have been replaced by anxiety, violence, and teenage pregnancy. If we look at one country, Uganda, we’ve seen a 20% spike in the last 15 months in teen pregnancies or pregnancies of 10-24-year-old girls who were seeking antenatal care. Across the globe in all continents, we’ve seen child helplines, a good precursor to understanding kids who are reporting violence, seeing often triple-digit increases.
4: Mid shot, journalists at press room briefing
5: SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) James Elder, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson: “More than 600 million children who aren’t on academic break remain affected by school closures. In Asia and the Pacific: in nearly half the countries, schools have been closed for about 200 days there. Amid some of the longest closures ever seen in Latin America and the Caribbean, still, 18 countries are affected by either full or partial closures. And as of today, our most recent estimates in Eastern and Southern Africa are that 40 per cent, 4 in 10 of all children 5 to 18 are currently out of school.
6: Mid shot journalist writing during press room briefing
7: SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) James Elder, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson: “At least a third of the world’s schoolchildren, remote learning is just not an option. We’re not talking about too much time for children on screen, they dont have access to screens. Again in East Asia and the Pacific, 80 million children have no access whatsoever to any remote learning. If you go back to Eastern and Southern Africa, Uganda, children there have passed to 300 days out of school. Home internet connectivity the lowest on the planet, is about 0.3%.
8: Journalist at press room briefing
9: SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) James Elder, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson: “Beyond those clear numbers of replacing education and learning with voice and teen pregnancy, if that doesn’t resonate with those in power, then the World Bank does have a report showing around, their estimate is about a 10 trillion dollar loss in earnings for this current cohort of students over time.
10: Journalist at press room briefing
11: SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) James Elder, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson: “Schools need to open as soon as possible. Reopening schools cannot wait for all teachers and students to be vaccinated. Governments at a time of great fiscal stress need to protect those education budgets. We need to find new ways to try and get those children who were never in schools to get them back in amid COVID. You know remove financial barriers loosen registration requirements. Forth, cash transfers, they work.
12: Various of pressroom briefing.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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