When I asked why she is working so hard and what she wants to accomplish in life, her answer is spontaneous: "I want my children to get educated and achieve great things in life".

I remembered Ibu Fathima as I think of the millions of children who must miss school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools remain closed, many children, especially from the poor and marginalized communities, might give up on education permanently. A recent report from Save the Children, a global charity, calls it as an 'unprecedented global education emergency.’ Children from rural households in particular will be the worst affected, as four out of five who are living under extreme poverty live in rural areas.

For millions of rural children in the developing world, schools are the most promising pathway to productive careers, well-paying jobs, and ladder of social progress. Subsistence farmers' educated children increase the living standards of their families that their farming parents only could dream of.

But COVID-19 has given a debilitating blow to this crucial socioeconomic ladder. Save the Children report says that "deep budget cuts to education and rising poverty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could force at least 9.7 million children out of school forever by the end of this year, with millions more falling behind in learning."

Among the 40 countries which the report classified as moderate to extremely high-risk of children permanently dropping out of school, almost all are from developing countries in Africa and Asia. It seems rural communities are aware of this challenge. A survey by Enveritas, a global sustainability platform, conducted among coffee-growing smallholders in three continents found that COVID-19 impact on access to education is one of the greatest concerns for smallholders in many countries.

The economic and social consequences of children dropping out of school are vast. The World Bank estimates that if "schools remain closed for five months, pupils will forgo US$10 trillion of future earnings in today's money." Also, the world would see "the first potential reversal in global child poverty trends since the late 1990s."

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