Coronavirus impact worsens India's educational divide, U.N. agency says

FILE PHOTO: Students and teachers prepare to decorate a school following the reopening after over a year due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Mumbai, India, October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's school closures and its children's lack of smartphone and internet facilities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic have worsened an educational divide, the U.N. cultural agency said, flagging risks to young people's futures.

About 248 million students were hit by school closures since March last year, UNESCO said in a report, though many Indian states have started easing curbs as infections dwindled and vaccinations rose in the last two months.