Coronavirus school closures mean over ONE BILLION children and youth are now shut out of classrooms

The pandemic has forced over 110 countries to shut down their education systems - on top of 258 million young people already not going to school in the long term.

More than 110 countries in every corner of the world have shut down schools and universities or are planning to close them to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The United Nations said today that 102 of them have nationwide closures that have impacted more than 849 million children and youth from pre-primary to higher education. Another 11 countries have localised shutdowns, which if extended would affect tens of millions more students.