The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our world in various social domains, such as health, politics, economy and education. Since the spread of the virus, schools have closed their doors in more than 190 countries across the world, in order to protect the health of teachers and students. Educational institutions were forced to come up with quick solutions to minimize the impact of the pandemic. However, the ongoing crisis has already interrupted the school career of more than 1,5 billion children, of which one-third of the world's schoolchildren don’t have access to remote learning.

Another consequence was that many parents had to leave their children in unsafe (and unstimulating) environments when going to work, due to inaccessible childcare or early education. 40 million children from the age of 3 till 5 have missed out on early childhood education, of which 22 million were located in South Asia. This isn’t only critical to the development of children, but also on their wellbeing and safety. 

Even in places where schools have remained open or have reopened, is education suffering from the effects of the virus. Parents lost their jobs or stayed home because of illness, which resulted in a great shock to the income of many families. “Even in an optimistic scenario, 176 million people will be pushed below the US$3.20 a day poverty line. The regional impact is uneven, with two-thirds of this number expected to be in South Asia”, was stated out of research by the World Bank. The drastically reduced incomes forced numerous children to drop out of school because families weren’t able to finance tuition, school supplies or school transport.

These alarming facts have been the motive for Little Leaders Foundation to set up the ‘Sponsor A Child’ program and offer support for the education of our Little Leaders (located in Sri Lanka) and to limit the impact of the pandemic on their development. Although public schools in Sri Lanka don’t charge tuition fees, the parents of students are required to purchase compulsory school supplies for the child to attend school. The costs for those school supplies are often already unaffordable for parents with a minimum income, especially during these challenging times.

With the help of our sponsors, we have created a financial support system to fund the education for children of families who, due to COVID-19 and other unfavourable circumstances, did not have the financial means to provide their child with an education. Our goal is to help even more children in 2021 by financing school supplies and guaranteeing stability for their school career, but also to maintain this system in the long term. Even before the crisis caused by COVID-19, 1 out of 5 school-aged children was out of school globally. This proves that the pandemic is only one of the many reasons why such a large proportion of children are excluded from following an education.