The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly slowed the learning progress of school children, according to a large-scale international study. Overall, pupils missed more than a third of the learning material of a normal school year. In Switzerland, however, only about one sixth was missed. The pandemic “has led to one of the largest disruptions to learning in history”, the authors from France, Sweden and the UK wrote in the study, published on Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. “To a large extent, this is due to school closures, which are estimated to have affected 95% of the world’s student population.” The learning deficit was much more pronounced in mathematics than in reading, they noted. This was because parents and children tended to read together at home rather than solve maths problems together. Mental and physical health problems may have exacerbated the deficits, they added. “Children’s wellbeing and family relationships have also suffered due to economic...
