Covid-19 was a disaster for the world’s schoolchildren
The costs of wasting brainpower are huge
EVERY THREE years for the past two decades analysts at the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, have asked pupils in dozens of places to take tests in reading, maths and science, the better to compare the quality of their schools. No one was expecting the latest round of exams, sat a year late in 2022 after years of pandemic-induced disruption, to bring good news. But the results, released on December 5th, are still a blow. An average teenager in the rich world is found to have fallen about six months behind in reading and nine months behind in maths, compared with peers who sat similar tests in 2018. In several rich countries 15-year-olds are performing at levels that back then would have been expected of learners a full year younger.
Leaders December 9th 2023
- How to stop over-medicalising mental health
- Israel and Palestine: How peace is possible
- A messy contest is coming to a head behind Donald Trump
- Bashing hedge funds that trade Treasuries could cost taxpayers money
- Green protectionism will slow the energy transition
- Covid-19 was a disaster for the world’s schoolchildren
From the December 9th 2023 edition
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