"Even before the pandemic hit, there were 258 million children in the world out of school," Ms Simpson said. Her organisation has swung into action with a new focus during the pandemic, working on educational radio broadcasts, television and distributing hard copies of materials to communities without digital access - for example, in India, she is hoping to include literacy worksheets in government food aid handouts. Heather Simpson, chief programme officer of global literacy organisation Room to Read, said: "I refuse to accept that we will lose a whole generation of children. That is something that many others are also fighting for across the world.
She hopes that the television lessons, broadcast by regional television and local government, continue after the pandemic ends. "I think in the long run when there is any problem, teaching should always continue however the situation and wherever it is," she said. But now she is getting access to lessons every day. In Buea, where she lives - declared a 'ghost town' by the separatists - there are no classes on Mondays, and Catherine often misses school for weeks on end because of the shutdowns. Half a million people have been forced to flee and 2,000 killed in the fighting, and around 600,000 children have been hit by an education ban enforced by the rebels to protest injustices against English-speaking pupils. It is unusual for Catherine, because she lives in a region where her schooling has been severely disrupted for almost two years, while separatist anglophone rebels battle the francophone government. Sitting in her parents' living room, she takes notes intently as her teacher gives a chemistry lesson that is being broadcast on television to homes across the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Sixteen-year old Catherine Enangue is getting used to having schoolwork every day.
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