Education and COVID19’ on Tuesday.He said that in mid-July, schools were closed in more than 160 countries, affecting over 1 billion students and at least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on education in their critical pre-school year.The policy brief said that the pandemic has exacerbated education disparities and learning losses due to prolonged school closures threaten to erase progress made in recent decades, not least for girls and young women.“Some 23.8 million additional children and youth (from pre-primary to tertiary) could drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic’s economic impact alone," the brief said.Guterres said as the world faces unsustainable levels of inequality, “we need education –.