No clear link between school opening and COVID surge, study finds

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Pupils prepare to enter at Holne Chase Primary School on their first day of school, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Milton Keynes, Britain September 3, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers

LONDON (Reuters) - Widespread reopening of schools after lockdowns and vacations is generally not linked to rising COVID-19 rates, a study of 191 countries has found, but lockdown closures will leave a 2020 "pandemic learning debt" of 300 billion missed school days.

The analysis, by the Geneva-based independent educational foundation Insights for Education, said 84% of those 300 billion days would be lost by children in poorer countries, and warned that 711 million pupils were still out of school.