<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000;">In a startling finding, UNICEF found that fewer than one in five children in Bangladesh participated in remote learning during COVID-19 school closure.The figure was brought out in the National Survey on Children's Education in Bangladesh 2021 conducted jointly by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF. The report of the survey was published on Thursday.<br />''Even within this group of 18.7 percent children  who could participate in remote learning, only 15.9  percent children from rural areas could avail of remote learning, while for the urban areas the figure was 28.7 percent. <br />''<br />''The youngest children carry the heaviest burden as participation in remote classes was lower among primary school children at 13.1 percent,  compared to secondary students at 20.3 percent in lower secondary and 23.7 per cent in upper secondary, found the survey.<br />''<br />''UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh Sheldon Yett said that The pandemic's impact on children was still reverberating throughout the country. It is critical to close the digital divide and to make the education system more shock responsive.<br />''<br />''Planning Minister Mohammad Abdul Mannan said that the survey would help to understand the extent of the impact of the prolonged school closure during COVID-19 pandemic on attendances, out-of-school, drop-out, and learning loss of children. It will help the Government to take steps for improving the quality and standard of education.</span><br />