According to government data, more than one million children in the United States did not enroll in school, owing primarily to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. According to official numbers cited by the New York Times (NYT), kindergarten admissions have dropped the most.
The New York Times and Stanford University analyzed enrollment data from 70,000 public schools in 33 states. According to the statistics, 10,000 local public schools will lose at least 20% of their kindergarten students by 2020. According to the New York Times, the number of schools affected has climbed from 4,000 in 2019 to 5,000 in 2018.
According to the NYT storey, the data analysis revealed that the majority of the reduction in admissions has occurred in communities living below or near the poverty line, highlighting the growing divide between the rich and the poor as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In these places, the average yearly income of a household of four is less than Rs. 25 lakh. According to the survey, such localities have had a 28% larger loss than the rest of the country.
The current coronavirus epidemic has claimed the lives of 4,293,530 persons around the world. In the United States alone, 616,828 individuals have died from the virus, with more than 35 million people infected.
According to the New York Times, elementary education admissions in the Philadelphia school district, where the majority of pupils are already from low-income families, declined by more than 25% between 2019 and 2020. Aside from Philadelphia, Jackson and Honolulu ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of kindergarten admissions reduction.
In many US jurisdictions, kindergarten is optional; nonetheless, experts argue that direct education in kindergarten is good for children since disorders impacting children’s physical and mental development, such as autism, are frequently recognised in these schools.
One of the main causes for the fall in admissions, according to the research, is online education. According to the research paper, there has been a 42% drop in districts where complete online education is available.
