Following the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of US students have not returned.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, hundreds of thousands of American kids have left public schools. In essence, they are no longer present in the classrooms. Some of the “missing” pupils were contacted through an investigation conducted by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project, and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee. An estimated 240,000 pupils in 21 states were discovered to have unaccounted-for absences from school. These pupils stayed in the state. They did not enrol in homeschooling or private education.

Following the nationwide closure of schools due to the epidemic in 2020, missing students attracted a lot of attention. But in the years since, absenteeism has mostly turned into a financial issue. Concerned about losing funding in the event that the pupils did not return were state and school officials. The federal, state, and local governments will spend more money if there are more students. The search for the youngsters who vanished from school is no longer urgent. In the initial stages of the epidemic, educators would visit pupils at home in an effort to assist them in going back to class. But most of these initiatives have failed.

There is more to the missing students than just a number, according to the AP and Stanford. The study stands in for thousands of pupils who might not have received instruction in reading comprehension and other subjects in kindergarten and first grade. Test results and performance have been the main topics of discussion when it comes to kids’ rehabilitation from the pandemic. However, Dee, the Stanford specialist, noted that the statistics point to the need for further research into the development of youngsters who are not enrolled in school. He stated, “This is important evidence that suggests we should be paying closer attention to the children who are no longer enrolled in public schools.”