Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This working paper discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on public spending on education services in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region.In addition to projecting likely spending trends in 2020 and 2021, it offers insights on how education budgets can be safeguarded amidst competing priorities and in the face of fiscal austerity.

As  the  COVID-19  pandemic  spreads,  most  governments  around  the  world  have  temporarily  closed  educational  institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the disease. These nationwide closures are not only impacting hundreds  of  millions  of  students,  they  are also  affecting  the  capacity  of  national education planning units  to monitor education outcomes. During these trying times, when countries need data more urgently than ever before to plan and monitor emergency response efforts and prepare for medium- and long-term mitigation and recovery strategies, statistical operations and other office activities are being seriously disrupted or interrupted.  The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has therefore launched and conducted a survey of COVID-19 pandemic impacts on national education planning units. The questionnaire is designed for statistical planning units in charge of national education statistics. The survey is available in four languages (English, French, Spanish, and Russian) and can be submitted by email or through the online survey platform. Therefore, the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity, and confidence in the quality of the data are ensured.

Launched at the Global Education Meeting hosted by UNESCO, the Save Our Future campaign – a movement of the biggest education multilaterals in partnership with over 600 civil society organizations, research organizations, foundations, media, youth, and influencers – put forward an evidence-based roadmap with concrete recommendations for governments to reimagine education systems post-COVID-19.  The white paper recommends that governments and the international community commit to: • Protecting education budgets and targeting budgets to those left furthest behind, • Fully financing education as a key part of the COVID recovery, • Improving coordination and use of evidence to ensure education funding achieves maximum impact. 

Save Our Future is led by a core hub of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, the Asian Development Bank, BRAC, Education Above All, Education Cannot Wait, the Education Commission, the Education Outcomes Fund, the Global Partnership for Education, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the World Food Programme in partnership with over 600 organizations and youth.

COVID-19 has caused the largest education disruption in history and exposed the scale to which education systems were unprepared for crises. Country-wide school closures were a near-universal policy response deemed necessary in the first phase. However, they have serious negative effects and deepen inequities. The G20 countries face dual challenges. They must respond domestically and, some, as OECD DAC donors. This brief recommends crisis-sensitive educational planning with a strong equity focus to ensure education continuity, predicated on comprehensive health measures. It suggests actions for the G20 countries and donors to rebuild and support resilient education systems, moving from first response to recovery.

This report, and the survey findings behind it, provides a unique insight into the perspectives of EdTech experts regarding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education in Africa. It is based on the findings of a survey of the eLearning Africa network, which attracted approximately 1650 responses from respondents in 52 countries in Africa.

This report drives home where change is most needed. If diversity and identity are inbuilt areas of study in most countries’ curricula, the report shows that not all groups are represented and the challenge of teaching children in their home language has yet to be effectively addressed. Practically all countries in the region collect data on ethnicity to guide policy decisions, but many still do not carry out household surveys to get granular data on disadvantage. The region has the highest share of teachers already trained on inclusion, but many are still trying to address inequality and cope with migratory impact without the pedagogies required. A particular case is made for tackling school segregation based on socio-economic and ethnic divides.

This Report identifies different forms of exclusion, how they are caused and what we can do about them. As such, it is a call to action we should heed as we seek to pave the way for more resilient and equal societies in the future. A call to collect better data, without which we cannot understand or measure the true scope ofthe problem. A call to make public policies far more inclusive, based on examples of effective policies currently in force, and by working together to address intersecting disadvantages, just as we saw Ministries and government departments are capable of when addressing Covid-19.

The key problems and challenges connected with the Covid-19 pandemic in the field of education in sub-Saharan Africa are described in this paper. The study is based on the information collected from teachers and parents during the lockdown. The main problems connected with the organization of distance learning, such as the availability and accessibility of electricity and stable communications, were described. The main questions connected with the support of e-learning such as unequal access to distance education platforms and tools and readiness of teachers of public and private schools were described. Key social and demographic challenges and threats to sustainable e-learning, such as critical overload of teachers, child mobilization for domestic tasks, age, ethnic and gender-based harassment and violence were analyzed.

This report presents learning and recommendations emerging from the Global Partners Project (GPP), an initiative to strengthen education in emergencies. The main project output has been a substantial new evidence base around a conceptual framework that investigates the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘so what’ of education coordination in crisis contexts.

This report provides an overarching framework that focuses on how policymakers as well as educators can support equitable, effective teaching and learning regardless of the medium through which that takes place. This framework provides research, state and local examples, and policy recommendations in 10 key areas that speak both to transforming learning and to closing opportunity and achievement gaps.

This report explores lessons from conflict and education in emergencies (EiE) seeking evidence-informed recommendations for policy makers that can help in the global response to Covid-19. The report explores transferability from EiE contexts to non-EiE Covid-19-affected contexts. The issue of how Covid-19 will impact on existing EiE contexts and displaced pupils is a vital one, but it is beyond the scope of this review.

The purpose of this review is to provide evidence on four effective distance learning modalities that can be implemented in USAID-recipient countries during and beyond emergencies. These four distance learning modalities—radio/audio, video/television, mobile phone programming, and online learning—are examined alongside the technologies used to access distance learning (radios, mobile phones, televisions, tablets, and, to a lesser extent, computers). While these modalities can be implemented in conflict settings and during crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic when learning institutions are closed, their utility also extends beyond these extreme circumstances in order to promote inclusion and to increase access to quality teaching and learning.

At this critical time, it is vital that international governments and donors increase funding to enable children in Uganda to continue learning. The closure of 51,000 institutions to prevent COVID-19 has left 15 million children out of school and facing increased risk of violence, exploitation and abuse. Closing schools must not mean suspending learning. There are evidenced home, community and media-based methods to ensure that children can keep learning and safe. Funding is urgently needed to ensure that these are in place from the start of the response before the opportunity closes.