face-to-face school to remote online learning curriculums. countries with poverty reported increased gender disparities as families could not afford internet usage in low-income households to pay for female education. additionally, there was a preference in male over female education as they were seen as sole providers. over 111 million of these girls are living in the world's least developed countries where getting an education is already a struggle. these are contexts of extreme poverty, economic vulnerability, and crisis where gender disparities in education are highest. in mali, niger, and south sudan — 3 countries with some of the lowest enrolment and completion rates for girls — closures have forced over 4 million girls out of school. the broadened gap in gender disparities impacts female education that will exceed beyond the pandemic and seep into their futures. there have been several efforts by unesco and other organizations to raise funds for female education, but due to the financial hardships of the pandemic, those efforts have fallen short. lack of government involvement in the issue and inability to address the increasing concerns of gender disparities in education during the pandemic has limited educational opportunities for females globally. the covid-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on female education. female education relates to the unequal social norms and the specific forms of discrimination that girls face. in 2018, 130 million girls worldwide were out of school, and only two out of three girls were enrolled in secondary education. the covid-19 pandemic may further widen the gaps and threatens to disrupt the education of more than 11 million girls. in addition, girls are less likely to have access to the internet and online learning. racial disparities the impact of covid-19 on racial disparities in online learning during the pandemic has received research attention. a recent study from the urban institute covers some of these findings. urban's study points to issues in access to a computer and internet. a 2018 survey of households showed that 48% of surveyed households of alaskan natives did not have access to computers compared to 35% of black households, 35% latino, and 19% white. minimal access to computers and the internet was found in 1.3 to 1.4 times as many black and hispanic households with school-aged children as it was in white households, with more than two out of five low-income households having just limited access. a 2021 report from the black education research collective analyzes the impact of covid-19 pandemic on black education. it evaluates how black students, parents, educators and community members experience systemic racism during covid. the study seeks to show how the pandemic has interrupted education across the country, highlighting existing racial and economic inequities. the study also argues that even before the outbreak, students in vulnerable neighborhoods, primarily black, indigenous, and other majority-minority areas, faced disparities in everything from resources (ranging from books to counselors) to student-teacher ratios and extracurricular activities. timeline 26 january: china was the first country which instituted measures to contain the covid-19 outbreak including extending the spring festival holiday and became the first to close all universities and schools around the country. students take end-of-year exams in tabriz, iran, 6 june 2020. 4 march: unesco released the first global numbers on school closures and affected students on 3 march. it reported that 22 countries on three continents had enacted preventive measures including the temporary closure of schools and universities, impacting 290.5 million students around the world. in reaction, unesco called on countries to support affected students and families and facilitate large-scale inclusive distance learning programmes. 5 march: the majority of learners affected by covid-19 emergency measures were located in china, with 233 million learners affected, followed by japan at 16.5 million and iran at 14.5 million. 10 march: one in five students worldwide was "staying away from school due to the covid-19 crisis" while another one in four was barred from higher education institutions, according to unesco. 13–16 march: national governments in 49 countries announced or implemented school closures on 13 march, including 39 countries which closed schools nationwide and 22 countries with localised school closures. by 16 march, this figure increased to 73 countries according to unesco. 19 march: a total of 50% of the students worldwide were affected by school closures, corresponding to nationwide closures in 102 countries and local closures in 11 countries affecting 1 billion people. 20 march: over 70% of the world's learners were impacted by closures, with 124 country-wide school closures. 27 march: nearly 90% of the world's student population was out of class. 29 march: more than 1.5 billion children and other students were affected by nationwide school closures. others were disrupted by localized closures. mid-april: a total of 1.58 billion students globally had been affected by the closure of schools and higher education institutions in response to the covid-19 pandemic. based on unesco monitoring reports, 200 countries implemented national closures, affecting about 94% of the world's student population. the percentage of students affected was as high as 99% for low and lower-middle income countries. 30 june: the cdc revised its guidelines for institutes of primary, secondary, and tertiary education, in which it expressly did not recommend the universal testing of students and staff. rather, the cdc only recommended testing people who are exhibiting covid-19 symptoms or who have come into contact with a known covid-19 case. school closures weeks of school closure due to the covid-19 pandemic in g20 countries