According to a recent World Bank assessment on the effects of COVID-19 on young people in South Asia, the COVID-19 pandemic that engulfed the world about three years ago has left millions of youth unemployed, with up to 1.6 million in Pakistan alone.
The first thorough examination of post-pandemic statistics, "Released on Thursday is "Collapse and Recovery: How Covid Eroded Human Capital and What to Do About It." It notes a significant shift in Pakistan's school enrollment rates between before and after the outbreak.
According to the estimate, the nation's pre-school enrollment will have decreased by more than 15 percentage points by the end of 2021.
According to a World Bank press release on the study, "enrollment among Pakistani children between the ages of six and 14 fell by six percentage points once schools reopened, and 7.6 million children have dropped out of school in Pakistan alone."
According to the report, COVID-19-related education shocks in South Asia could cause students to lose up to 14.4% of their expected future earnings.
In South Asia, schools were closed entirely or in part for 83% of the time between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022. This is a substantial increase over the global average of 52%.
Children who attend school typically lose 32 days of learning for every 30 days of school shutdown.
This is because pupils missed out on learning and also forgot what they had already learned as a result of school closings and inefficient remote learning strategies. With 78% of 10-year-olds in South Asia reportedly unable to read and comprehend a simple written sentence as a result, learning poverty, which was already 60% before the pandemic, has worsened further.
Martin Raiser, vice president of the World Bank for South Asia, was also quoted in the press release as saying: "The pandemic closed schools, decimated jobs, and threw vulnerable families into crisis, throwing millions of children and young people in South Asia off course and robbing them of opportunities to flourish."
The children from the poorest households in Pakistan, however, were falling further behind in math when the post- and pre-pandemic learning levels were compared to those of the wealthiest households.
The World Bank issued a warning that catastrophes like COVID-19 lower levels of human capital and subsequent rates of accumulation.
If the aforementioned losses are not addressed, lifetime wages and economic growth will see a decades-long decline, ultimately leading to an increase in inequality.
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