The entity issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day of Education highlighting that face-to-face classes continue in most member states, despite the impact of the coronavirus and its Omicron variant.

According to data from the organization, schools are open in 135 nations, while the course has been temporarily suspended in 25, with the extension of the end-of-year vacations.

Only a dozen countries chose to close schools and move to distance learning in the face of the emergence of Omicron, a figure that contrasts with the 40 that made such a decision in January 2021.

“Education continues to be deeply disrupted by the pandemic, but all countries are now acutely aware of the dramatic costs of keeping schools closed,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.

The official highlighted that the expansion of vaccination against Covid-19 and the lessons of the last two years have translated into a new model based on school health and safety protocols.

However, UNESCO insisted on the need for these protocols to have the essential financial resources for their effective application and assistance to teachers, and asked governments to prioritize them in immunization, “since these were not assigned to no priority group in about one in three countries.

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