Over a quarter of a billion children have no access to education, a United Nations agency has found.

Iran PressAmerica: More than 250 million children had no access to schooling in 2018, the United Nations agency for education reported on Tuesday. This is down from about 350 million at the turn of the millennium, reported by DW News.

Children from poorer communities as well as girls, the disabled, immigrants, and ethnic minorities were more likely to miss out on education in many countries, UNESCO found.

In 2018, "258 million children and youth were entirely excluded from education, with poverty as the main obstacle to access," the report found.

This amounts to 17% of all school-age children missing out on education. They were mostly concentrated in South and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one in two children is affected. 

The Paris-based organization found that the coronavirus pandemic had only made the situation worse, with 90% of the world's student population affected by school closures.

Children living in poverty were unable to continue their education using laptops, mobile phones, and the internet, as many wealthier students could.

"Lessons from the past — such as with Ebola — have shown that health crises can leave many behind, in particular the poorest girls, many of whom may never return to school," UNESCO's director-general Audrey Azoulay said.

German Development State Secretary Maria Flachsbarth said: "In the context of a crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, existing inequalities are worsening worldwide."

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