Children and COVID-19 Research Library

We are in a learning crisis. To give young people the best chance to succeed, we need to support them holistically. The first step is to identify where children and youth are in building the range of skills they need, monitor progress in their development and ensure no child or young person is left behind. The Recovering Learning report published jointly by UNICEF and the Education Commission, and supported by Generation Unlimited, contributes to these efforts by providing a comprehensive view of skills attainment among children and youth. The report highlights the need to improve tracking progress in skills development, especially in light of the global priority to recover education in response to COVID-related disruptions. To succeed in the global commitment to support the holistic development of children and young people, we need better and more inclusive data to recover and reimagine our education system RAPID-ly. We also need to mobilize increased and improved investment in education to finance transformation, including through innovative instruments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many unintended, long-lasting consequences for society. Preventative practices such as mask wearing, social distancing, and virtual meetings and classrooms to address contagion concerns may negatively affect communication, particularly in the pediatric population, as schools have begun to open this fall. Increasing awareness and creating innovative methods to promote communication and language learning in settings both in person and virtual is paramount. Although more studies are needed to characterize the pandemic’s impact on pediatric speech and language development, clinicians and parents should be cognizant of this phenomenon and proactive in facilitating an optimal communication environment for children.

While remote learning measures are essential for mitigating the short-term and long-term consequences of COVID-19 school closures, little is known about their impact on and effectiveness for learning.

This working paper contributes to filling this gap by: 1. Exploring how disrupted schooling may affect foundational learning skills, using data from MICS6 (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys - round 6) in 2017–2019; 2. Examining how countries are delivering and monitoring remote learning based on data from the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank’s National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures survey; and 3. Presenting promising key practices for the effective delivery and monitoring of remote learning.