Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This regional situation analysis provides a snapshot of the educational responses and effects of COVID-19 across Asia and has been undertaken as part of the broader analysis initiated by UNICEF and UNESCO to assess the progress of countries in the region towards the targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.  This regional report is based on the findings of three sub-regional reports (East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia) and 14 case studies, which in turn are based on a comprehensive desk-review of qualitative and quantitative evidence, complemented by key informant interviews with relevant education officials, local authorities and teachers.  

This sub-regional situational analysis provides a snapshot of the educational responses and effects of COVID-19 across South Asia based on a comprehensive desk-review of qualitative and quantitative evidence, complemented by key informant interviews with relevant education officials, local authorities and teachers across the eight countries in the sub-region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

This sub-regional situational analysis provides a snapshot of the educational responses and effects of COVID-19 across East Asia based on a comprehensive desk-review of qualitative and quantitative evidence, complemented by key informant interviews with relevant education officials, local authorities and teachers across three countries in the sub-region (China, Japan and Republic of Korea).

Due  to  the  COVID-19  Pandemic,  governments  around  the world  risk  losing  years  of  progress  towards  the  Sustainable Development Goal on education (SDG4) in the 2030 Education Agenda if they do not invest sufficiently in education systems during the crisis response and recovery. Education is not only a human right, but also a strategy for ongoing economic revival and  sustainable  development.  Efforts  to  sustain  or  increase economic investment in education should be smart, strong, and leave no one behind, providing targeted stimulus to vulnerable populations at higher risk of dropping out. UNESCO believes that  the  post-pandemic  economic  recovery  is  dependent  on short- and long-term investment in flexible, resilient education systems that can respond quickly and efficiently.

This sub-regional situational analysis provides a snapshot of the educational responses and effects of COVID-19 across East Asia based on a comprehensive desk-review of qualitative and quantitative evidence, complemented by key informant interviews with relevant education officials, local authorities and teachers across three countries in the sub-region (Indonesia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam).

This booklet draws on research-based knowledge generated during the Covid-19 crisis and on previous research on germane topics, to suggest a framework that supports the development of contextually relevant educational strategies to teach during and after the pandemic. The booklet is addressed to education administrators at the school and system level. It was written with the acknowledgment that the pandemic is still ongoing in much of the world, and that interruptions to education in many parts of the world are likely to continue through 2022, and perhaps beyond.  The booklet focuses entirely on education. It does not address health or other policy responses to the pandemic—although obviously the pandemic is, at the root, a public health crisis that has triggered many economic, social, and educational consequences. An appropriate government response should be coherent and multisectoral, so that there is good coordination among various sectoral components of the response.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education implemented the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan, directing schools to switch to online and distance learning modes. The start of School Year 2020-21 was moved to August from June. By September 2020, however, only 23,987,944 basic education students enrolled in public and private schools for SY 2020-21, representing 86.3% of the national enrolment figures from SY 2019-2020. This new normal in education underscores the important role of parents to make sure that the educational goals for their children are met during these challenging times. Enhancing the resilience of children allows them to develop normally despite adverse conditions brought about by disaster experiences. This Manual was developed as a resource for teachers to train parents and caregivers of elementary school-aged children and build their capacity to provide psychosocial support to their children during and in the aftermath of disaster experiences. The Manual consists of a framework to guide teachers, learning packs on the different modules covered in the program, and 8 modules detailing step-by-step conduct of the training sessions.

Declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 has had far-reaching impacts on every facet of life around the world, exacerbating pre-existing  inequalities  and  negatively  impacting  on  vulnerable  and  disadvantaged  populations  the  most.  Learning  continuity  has  been  disrupted  by  school  closures,  generating an unprecedented situation worldwide. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) data collated in July 2020, over 18.6 million children in pre-primary education in forty-eight Sub-Saharan African countries and 4.4 million pre-primary teachers – eighty-five per cent of whom were women – in twenty-four countries in the Asia-Pacific region were affected by school or centre closures. Recognizing the possible severe and detrimental impact that COVID-19 might have on ECE personnel and their practices, UNESCO Bangkok and Dakar teamed up with several partners to undertake regional surveys in the Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa from April to July 2020. Based on the regional surveys, this report features eight key findings and three key messages to better understand ECE personnel’s needs and to identify possible responses to support them.

This report presents findings from the Survey of National Education Responses to COVID- 19, jointly conducted by UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and OECD, and administered by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics and OECD. Three rounds of questionnaires have thus far been administered.1 This report focuses on responses to the survey’s more recent third round. All numbers presented and discussed in this report refer to the share of countries that responded to each relevant question in the survey. The number of countries that provided valid responses to the question are noted in each figure. Where relevant, countries that responded with ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Not applicable’, or countries with no response to any of the options or for a level of education, are excluded from the analysis. Caution is advised in generalizing the results represented in some figures as the countries that responded to this question cover less than 50 per cent of the total four- to 17-year-old population. These instances are noted under the respective figures. Detailed information on the country and student coverage of each figure, including by income group, is available in Annexes 1-3. In each country, the survey questionnaire was completed by the Ministry of Education officials responsible for education planning at the central or decentralized levels. The survey instrument was designed to capture de jure policy responses and perceptions from government officials on their effectiveness, providing a systematic understanding of deployed policies, practices and intentions to date.

Students around the world have lost substantial instructional time owing to abrupt school closures since theoutbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNESCO monitoring, in 2020, school buildings werecompletely closed for an average of 15 weeks (4  months) worldwide (UNESCO, 2021a). Counting partialclosures, schools were shut on average for 26 weeks (6.5 months) worldwide, equivalent to almost two-thirds of a typical school year. In response, education systems have deployed remote and hybrid learning modalities to ensure continuity of learning. These efforts have yielded mixed results, with varying degrees of improvement and reduction in inequalities in student learning depending on the modalities and implementation methods of the different education programmes. As a result, almost all students needsome catch-up learning, compelling education systems to deploy and scale up targeted interventions quicklyto help pupils bridge their learning gaps and improve learning.This paper draws key messages to help policy and practice to mitigate the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 crisis on student learning. It addresses the growing concerns of both policy and decision-makers aboutstudents’ disengagement from – or loss of – learning owing to the pandemic, as   reflected in low levels of achievement at   checkpoints compared to expected learning levels, reduced rates of completion and/orgrowing disparities in learners' achievement. If policy-makers do not react quickly by providing additionaland relevant support to address students’ learning needs, especially those from marginalized groups,millions of children and youth may not return to the classroom, and may eventually drop out of school.

 

This report highlights a very important topic for the world and for society: inclusive education as a significant issue in the context of the global Education 2030 Agenda and special education to safeguard the rights and interests of per-sons with disabilities share a common focus on the equal access to education for students with disabilities among disadvantaged groups. UNESCO has been advocating for the global com-munity to work together to find ways to remove barriers to learning for persons with disabilities and to provide them with appropriate conditions for equal access to education. Evidence–based data received during interviews with over 50 educators in Rwanda and Mauritius provided the opportunity to identify gaps, les-sons learned, and good practices in the target countries, and helped to articulate the policy recommendations to encourage innovative and pervasive use of ICT and ODL solutions for the education of students with disabilities.

The research was guided by the following objectives: outline the main contributions of institutions in facilitating integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in SEN education during the pandemic crisis; examine the relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of technological innovations employed in SEN education; analyse the major barriers impeding the implementation of ODL solutions in SEN education; determine the promising innovative technological practices and whether they are potentially sustainable and replicable in a post-COVID environment; propose policy recommendations to promote and encourage innovative and pervasive use of ODL solutions for learners with disabilities as a post-COVID recovery plan.

This study will describe the opportunities and challenges related to the utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) to create more inclusive learning environments in Colombia. It will present and ana-lyse key features of the national policy and one or two emerging initiatives. In each case, it will review, for each target population, accessible ICT products and services in formal and non-formal educational settings.

This  study  sheds  light  on  Bangladesh’s  initiatives  in  the  area  of  disability-inclusive  education.  The  particu-lar  focus  is  on  the  role  of  its  Accessible  Reading  Materials  (ARM)  initiative  and  how  this  has  contributed  to ensuring disability-inclusive and accessible education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. ARM is a government-led initiative that was launched in 2014 by the then Access to Information (a2i) programme of   the    Prime Minister’s Office, now the    Aspire to   Innovate Programme of    the    Information and    Communica-tion Technology (ICT) Division of the Government of Bangladesh. It was launched in recognition of the need for solutions to ensure virtual, as well as regular reading access for all students, including children and young people with barriers to reading. ARM is aimed at satisfying the educational needs of all students including students with print and learning disabilities.

These timely Guidelines were developed precisely with the aim to assist countries and stakeholders to conduct assessments of their national education legal and policy frameworks. The first edition was published in 2014. Today, more than being just a revision, the new Guidelines have been entirely re-designed and re-written to reflect the new context, trends and challenges. They build on the new knowledge we produced, capitalize on the work carried out in countries, and use improved methodological tools.