UN opens Pandemic Classroom exhibition to call for ending school closure
(VOVWORLD) - A "Pandemic Classroom" exhibit was unveiled on Tuesday evening in the UN campus in Manhattan, New York, to highlight what UN children's education agency UNICEF calls the "COVID-19 education crisis."
 (Photo: UNICEF) |
The exhibit depicts the adverse impact of school closures and called on nations to end them.
The installation features 168 empty desks, each seat representing one million children living in countries where schools have been almost entirely closed since the onset of lockdowns.
UNICEF, the World Bank, the World Food Program, and the UN refugee agency are asking countries to open schools as soon as safely possible. The agencies have worked together since last June to create a framework for opening schools safely. The UN believes it is more crucial than ever to get children back into a learning environment, according to Robert Jenkins, UNICEF's Global Chief of Education.