LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out a decade of progress in increasing preschool enrollment in the United States, resulting in a nearly 20 percent decline in enrollment in a single year, said a report of U.S. News & World Report.

       According to the 2021 State of Preschool report, published Tuesday by the U.S. National Institute for Early Education Research, enrollment in state-funded preschool dropped for the first time in 20 years during the 2020-2021 school year, erasing a decade of growth and resulting in a decline of nearly 20 percent, or 300,000 children, in a single year.

       The greatest negative impact was on children from low-income families and racial and ethnic minorities, the report showed.

       "The pandemic highlighted and exacerbated long-standing problems of inadequate enrollment, quality and funding," said Steven Barnett, senior co-director and founder of the institute.

       "Challenges such as health risks, closed classrooms and remote classrooms disrupted an already fragile system," he said.