In 2019 the World Bank started keeping count of the number of children who still cannot read by the time they finish primary school. It found that less than half of ten-year-olds in developing countries could read and understand a simple story. The pandemic struck and hundreds of millions of pupils were locked out of school. When it was not yet known whether children were vulnerable to covid-19 or were likely to spread the virus to older people, school closures were a prudent precaution. Has the Governments are ignored the pandemic’s disastrous effect on education?

