A/HRC/44/39 communities. In addition, as digital learning has increased exponentially, a thorough debate needs to take place on the place that should be given to such learning in the future, keeping in mind not only the possible opportunities but also the deleterious effect that screens have on children and youth, including on their right to health and education. Attention also needs to be paid to the risks posed by a shift to online education to those children at risk of digital exclusion or with special educational needs. A. Structural discrimination and rising inequalities 22. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned about the significant widening of inequalities in access to education as a consequence of the closure of educational institutions and the social and economic crisis resulting from the pandemic. 23. New grounds of discrimination may be of increasing importance in the postCOVID-19 context, such as the lack of access to the Internet. Ultimately, however, those grounds simply correspond to preexisting structural inequalities within societies based, in particular, on social and economic status, remote location, sex and gender, language, religion, colour, national or ethnic origin, disability or other status. Huge differences in access to education also exist between and within countries. The situation of children in humanitarian contexts (refugees 16 and conflict-affected populations) is also of great concern. 24. The closure of schools and universities has interrupted the learning of countless individuals. Where closures have lasted only a few weeks, where parents have been in a position to ensure effective home schooling and where children have enjoyed continued support from their teachers and access to digital learning platforms, the consequences may have been limited. Children who were already performing well and who benefited from good physical, social, economic and psychological conditions at home may have had no problem at all. The same is true of those older learners who have been able to access online education and other forms of pedagogical and social support. 25. For many others however, school closures have been devastating, with significant long-term repercussions on their right to education and lost opportunities affecting their futures.17 For many children, school closures have resulted in an acceleration of inequalities. This has been particularly true for children who are socially vulnerable, whose parents are not in a position to ensure effective home schooling and who do not speak the same language as is used at school, who live in poor quality or unsafe housing, who experience digital exclusion, who care for others, who have experienced economic precariousness and hunger as a result of the school closures and who were not able to access or benefit from online learning. The COVID-19 pandemic may result in children and youth dropping out permanently from education for diverse reasons, including the inability of parents to pay school fees in the post-COVID-19 context, the need to support their families economically, the bankruptcy of their school or the incapacity of their school to ensure the hygiene and protection measures needed to ensure a safe return in the short term. For many, school closures have also translated into the end of access to social services, including school meals and psychosocial support services. The lockdown and the severing of the link with educational services has increased the risk of domestic violence and psychosocial distress, sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage, child labour and child trafficking, recruitment and use in armed conflict. Based on previous crises such as the Ebola crisis, early estimates predict that 10 million more girls will be out of school than before the pandemic once all schools reopen.18 26. The situation also remains extremely difficult for those students who are no longer able to support themselves and/or pay off their debts because they have lost their jobs. 16 17 18 8 See the Special Rapporteur’s report on the right to education of refugees (A/73/262). George Psacharopoulos and others, “The COVID-19 cost of school closures” (Brookings, 29 April 2020). Malala Fund, “Girls’ education and COVID-19: what past shocks can teach us about mitigating the impact of pandemics”, p. 2, and OHCHR, “COVID-19 and women’s human rights: guidance”, 15 April 2020.