COVID-19 Crisis: UN enlists tech firms to support as over 1.5 billion children missing school due to lockdown

United Nation’s education agency UNESCO is joining hands with tech firms and non-profit organisations to identify and support more than 1.5 billion children who are missing school because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

"Never before have we witnessed educational disruption on such a scale," Audrey Azoulay, director general of the Paris-based UNESCO, said in a statement, as per AFP.

Unesco estimates that a shocking 87% of the world’s student population have been affected due to the



Coronavirus pandemic that has forced schools, colleges and other educational institutions to shut down.

The Unesco tech partners to support children missing education because of the Coronavirus pandemic include -- Microsoft, Google, Facebook and video conferencing specialist Zoom, as well as the GSMA association of mobile network operators.

The US foundation behind the famous children’s educational programme Sesame Street’ has also joined along with public broadcaster BBC from Britain.