Remote learning is setting back millions of South Asian children - UNICEF

FILE PHOTO: Students wearing masks attend their class under the trees as they maintain social distancing outside their school, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Gund on the outskirts of Srinagar September 30, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hundreds of millions of children in South Asian are suffering because their schools have been closed because of the coronavirus but they lack online devices and connections for remote learning, UNICEF said on Thursday.

Authorities should prioritise the safe reopening of schools because even before the pandemic, almost 60% of children in the densely populated region were unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10, the U.N. children's agency said.