United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has called upon the government and agitating parties to open the schools closed since the past 5 days due to the indefinite strike called by teachers’ and students’ wing of the Maoist party.

In a statement issued Monday the UN body said it was concerned about the closure of the schools since Thursday and said that to close schools during the school year is to deny children the right to learn.

This is a major disruption to their (children’s) studies and development opportunities, said UNICEF representative Gillian Mellsop in the statement.

The UNICEF representative also called upon the teachers’ and students’ unions to work actively on a prompt and peaceful resolution that does not affect the children.

“Even when schools are open, one out of five Nepali children aged six to ten are still not in school,” she said adding, “this means that more than half a million children do not attend school.”

The closure of more than 35,000 government and private schools across the country have affected around 7.8 million children.