London school fights COVID fallout with laptops, bean bags

LONDON (AP) — Schools across Britain are racing to offset the disruption caused by COVID-19, which has hit kids from low-income and ethnic minority families the hardest. One parent, Nik Geraj, says he struggled to help his daughter study during coronavirus lockdowns that shut her school for more than four months over the past year. Before the pandemic, 6-year-old Mia was doing well. But she had a hard time during lockdown, missing her friends and teachers at Holy Family Catholic Primary in southeast London. Geraj, a former refugee from Albania, and his wife, who comes from Vietnam, weren’t able to fill the gaps. He says his daughter “really missed out.” Students across England lost an average of 115 days of in-school instruction to the pandemic.