Effects of COVID-19 on Quality Education Education systems worldwide have been hit hard and abruptly by the pandemic. School closures to stop the spread of COVID-19 have affected the vast majority of the world's student population, in terms of receiving quality education. Definition Quality education is a process of teaching and learning that provides all learners with capabilities they require to become economically productive, and contribute to social and individual well-being. Background information Before the pandemic, students were completing an average of 11.2 years of schooling throughout their school-age lives, but with the outbreak of pandemic years of schooling has decreased to only 7.9. The effects of the pandemic on quality education vary within and across different countries and social groups. Widening educational inequalities During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools are offering remote learning to students through virtual classrooms to mitigate the impact of school closures. While this is an option for some, it is out of reach for many. Lack of access to computers and the Internet at home, as well as a low level of computer-related skills, put many already marginalized students at a further disadvantage, by disrupting the quality education. The great inequities in access to technology, connectivity and electricity both within and between countries mean that multiple delivery channels for remote learning are needed to reach all children. Estimates on the global reach of broadcast and online remote learning from over 100 countries find that, at minimum, 30 per cent of the world's children were not reached by remote learning during the COVID-19 school closures due to a lack of country-level remote learning policies and/or a lack of household access to technology. Increasing learning loss Months of absence from school owing to COVID-19 are likely to impact education outcomes. Not attending school can have immediate adverse effects on children's learning and, more precisely, on the acquisition of foundational skills. School closures prompted by COVID-19, which effectively put most children out of school for extended periods in 2020, may likewise be having immediate adverse effects on children's learning and their acquisition of foundational skills. In the longer term, prolonged absence from school is associated with lower retention and graduation rates, and worse learning outcomes, in particular among segments of the population that are already disadvantaged, including members of poor households and students with disabilities. Identifying the prevalence and scale of such learning loss is key to designing preventive and corrective interventions. Failure to do so, however, can amplify the damage at an exponential social, economic and financial cost Source: Lim, M. M. L. (2020, July). Effects of COVID-19 on quality education. Ecology and Society, 23 (3). Read the text above and write an introduction paragraph answering the question "Discuss whether school closures during COVID-19 pandemic have affected quality education." Your introduction should include the following features: 1 Introduction of your 2 3 4 Thesis statement topic Background information about Definition of the topic / key term the topic (Paraphrase the underlined definition and cite.) (Paraphrase the underlined sentences that provide background information and cite.)