The COVID-19 pandemic has focused a harsh spotlight on deficiencies in childcare and early childhood education across the world.   

A new research paper by the UNICEF, the UN children's agency, says the closing of educational facilities due to the pandemic has resulted in at least 40 million preschool students globally missing out on learning and development. 

Even before COVID-19, it notes that the situation of families had been described as "a global childcare crisis."    

Lockdowns and other restrictions on the movement of people have made childcare an even greater challenge for parents.  

In many countries, child daycare centers and schools have been closed while the disease's risk profile has also meant that many grandparents have been unavailable to care for their grandchildren. 

The study found that an estimated 40 percent of children between 3 and 5 years old in 54 low- and middle-income countries were not receiving the play and early learning support they need for healthy development.  

Benefits of pre-primary education

The situation is particularly acute for parents who work in the informal sector and have little access to social protection programs. 

Last year, in its first-ever global report dedicated to early childhood education, UNICEF pointed to a severe lack of investment in the sector, which, by its estimates, meant that around half of pre-primary-age children worldwide were suffering deep inequalities from the start. 

The World Bank, a big pre-primary education donor, has said that early childhood development is "one of the smartest investments a country can make in its future."  

Experts say 90 percent of a child's brain development happens before the age of five, so the early years are considered important in providing a foundation for learning.  

"Education disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are preventing children from getting their education off to the best possible start," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore was quoted as saying in a news release.  

"Childcare and early childhood education build a foundation upon which every aspect of children's development relies. The pandemic is putting that foundation under serious threat."  

Recommendations for action

The UNICEF paper said long-term implications of COVID-19 for childcare are not yet certain. But it recalled an earlier prediction from the agency that a prolonged economic crisis arising from the pandemic in low- and middle-income countries will put 86 million additional children at risk of household poverty by the end of 2020.  

The pressures this would place on childcare for families would be enormous. Even in the U.S., the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, estimates that the country could lose half of its licensed childcare capacity post-COVID without government support. 

Fore said families generally need help from their governments and their employers to weather the crisis.  

UNICEF's report calls for policies that enable all children to access high-quality, age-appropriate, affordable and accessible childcare centers irrespective of family circumstances.  

Its recommendations include paid parental leave for parents, flexible work arrangements that address the needs of working parents, investment in the non-family childcare workforce, and social protection systems, including cash transfers that reach families working in the informal sector.