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Radhika Nagesh

Education Researcher (Former title)

Radhika joined the UNICEF Innocenti Office in April 2021. Radhika has worked in development research for over five years with stakeholders in government, international organizations, academia, private-sector, and small-scale NGOs and is well versed in experimental and quasi-experimental research methods. Recently, Radhika managed a lean-season consumption smoothing study with smallholder farmers for Innovations for Poverty Action in Zambia. Her previous experience spans research projects in India, Rwanda, the Philippines, Lebanon, and South Africa, covering education, health, gender, and child protection. She holds an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development with a specialization in social protection policy design from Maastricht University and UNU-MERIT in the Netherlands.

Publications

 What's next? Lessons on education recovery: Findings from a survey of Ministries of Education amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Publication

What's next? Lessons on education recovery: Findings from a survey of Ministries of Education amid the COVID-19 pandemic

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have collaborated in the third round of the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures, administered by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and OECD to Ministry of Education officials. The questions covered four levels of education: preprimary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. While the first two rounds of the survey were implemented during the periods May–June and July–October 2020, respectively, the third round was implemented during the period February–June 2021. In total, 143 countries responded to the questionnaire. Thirty-one countries submitted responses to the OECD (“OECD survey”) and 112 countries responded to the UIS (“UIS survey”). Seven countries responded to both surveys. In these instances, the more complete set responses were used in analysis.
Reopening With Resilience: Lessons from Remote Learning During COVID-19 – South Asia
Publication

Reopening With Resilience: Lessons from Remote Learning During COVID-19 – South Asia

COVID-19 school closures in South Asia lasted longer than in any other region. To mitigate subsequent effects, governments and education actors in South Asia provided a range of remote learning modalities. This report presents evidence on the reach and effectiveness of these remote learning strategies through a meta-analysis of studies from the region. Large differences in students’ access to connectivity and devices show that high-tech remote learning modalities did not reach all students. Lessons learned indicate that the effectiveness of one-way or low-tech modalities can be enhanced through increased engagement and support from educators. Teachers, parents and caregivers must be supported to help children learn remotely, especially in cases where they must rely on these low-tech remote learning modalities. Formative assessments are needed to understand the scale of lost learning and target responses to remediate this learning loss when schools reopen.