• BLOG SURF
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 6
When the Government of Nepal announced a nationwide lockdown on 18 March 2020 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching learning processes in the majority of Nepal's schools came to a complete halt.
Nepal had faced a similar situation in April 2015 when a strong earthquake struck western and central Nepal, leading to a complete closure of schools for at least five weeks in the affected areas.
Nepal also faces seasonal, localized school closures in the southern plains during the monsoons and in the northern mountains due to heavy snowfall in the winters.
None of these closures have been as devastating to teaching-learning as the ongoing COV- ID-19 pandemic. Nepal has imposed the longest full or partial school closures in South Asia, seriously jeopardizing children's learning. Further, the negative effects of the pandemic on learning continuity have been closely associated with factors including students' and type of school attended, the majority of which are determined by a family's socio-economic status.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 7, 2021 of The Himalayan Times.
