Remote learning to cost NSW kids $16.1b

School closures during the pandemic will have a profound long-term effect on children, NCOSS says. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Shutting down face-to-face learning, particularly in western Sydney, will cost NSW students more than $16 billion in future lifetime earnings, a new report has found.

Strict health orders coupled with curfews at the height of the pandemic adversely affected children in Blacktown, Canterbury-Bankstown and Fairfield local government areas.