Covid-19 school closure may cost India over $400 bn: World Bank

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

South Asia region stands to lose $622 billion from the school closures in the present scenario or up to $880 billion in a more pessimistic scenario, it said, adding while the regional loss is largely driven by India, all countries will lose substantial shares of their GDP. The report titled “Beaten or Broken? Informality and Covid-19 in South Asia” claims that South Asia is set to plunge into its worst-ever recession in 2020 as the devastating impacts of Covid-19 on the region’s economies linger.

“Temporary school closures in all South Asian countries have had major implications for students. They have kept 391 million students out of school in primary and secondary education, further complicating efforts to resolve the learning crisis,” said the report.