School closures caused extreme learning losses, need to be prepared for next pandemic: World Bank prez Ajay Banga

New Delhi, July 19

School closures during the Covid-19 pandemic caused extreme learning losses, World Bank President Ajay Banga said on Wednesday, underlining the need to devise a mechanism to prevent such situations before the next pandemic hits.

“We have a real challenge for the generation which was undergoing schooling during the pandemic,” Banga said, responding to a question by PTI.

“Developed and developing countries were learning how to deal with it when we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been extreme learning losses due to prolonged school closures during the period…and dealing with the learning losses is not just India’s problem, it is an issue across the globe,” he said.

“My view is that we must learn now. We have to fix what we have got, pretty much make sure we learn before the next pandemic, devise a mechanism…or we will make the same mistakes again. The next one (pandemic) will come for sure. It is a question of how long before it does come? To me that is the bigger issue,” he added.

The World Bank had previously noted that the prolonged closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic in India may cause a loss of over USD 400 billion in the country’s future earnings, besides substantial learning losses.

Indian-American Banga, 63, took over as the president of the World Bank last month, becoming the first person of colour to head either of the two global financial institutions — the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Banga is on his first visit to India after taking over the charge of the global lender. He will attend the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Ahmedabad.

Earlier, in the day he visited a skill centre in Dwarka and interacted with students.