When schools around the world shut their doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, many feared a lost generation of learners. Research from dozens of countries confirms these fears – student learning stagnated or regressed, especially in low- and middle-income countries where digital access is limited. But one country stands out for having not only avoided this decline, but for achieving measurable improvements in student outcomes: Uzbekistan.

Our recent study, published in Prospects, presents a powerful counter-narrative to the prevailing story of pandemic-era learning loss. Drawing on unique longitudinal data, we found that Uzbekistan’s distance education response—centred around television broadcasting and quality instruction—led to significant academic gains, particularly in mathematics.

Learning gains against the odds

Our analysis of Grade 5 mathematics assessments conducted in 2019 and again in 2021 reveals a surprising result: learning not only continued during the pandemic, it accelerated. On average, student scores improved by 0.29 standard deviations between the two assessment waves. Among students who were tested in both years, the gains were even more impressive: 0.72 standard deviations. These numbers signal meaningful academic progress; the kind typically associated with successful in-person schooling – not with emergency distance education.

This result defies expectations. Around the world, the dominant narrative has been one of severe learning setbacks, especially for children in countries with limited access to high-speed internet or personal computers. But Uzbekistan’s education system found a different path – one that prioritized access, speed, and quality in the face of uncertainty.

The power of television

Central to Uzbekistan’s success was a critical decision made early in the pandemic: use national television as the backbone of its distance education strategy. While online learning was promoted in many countries, it often reinforced inequalities. In rural or low-income areas, reliable internet is scarce. Computers are not always available. Even mobile data can be prohibitively expensive.

But Uzbekistan had one clear advantage: 100% penetration of digital television. Recognizing this, the Ministry of Public Education partnered with leading educators to produce and broadcast daily video lessons across all core subjects. Beginning in April 2020, more than 350 lessons were aired nationally and also made available online for additional flexibility.

This approach enabled Uzbekistan to bypass the digital divide and reach virtually every household with school-age children. But it wasn’t just about access – it was also about quality. The country’s best teachers were recruited to deliver the televised lessons, ensuring students were exposed to engaging, well-structured content.

What policymakers can learn

Uzbekistan’s experience offers timely lessons for education policymakers around the globe. The education sector can build resilience. Uzbekistan’s model provides a blueprint:

1. Don’t underestimate the power of television. In many parts of the world, TV remains the most ubiquitous medium. It’s easy to overlook in the age of apps and online platforms, but in low-connectivity settings, it can be the most equitable and effective tool for mass learning delivery.
2. Invest in teacher quality. Technology is only as effective as the people behind it. Uzbekistan’s decision to place its best teachers in front of the camera elevated the quality of instruction and helped maintain student engagement.
3. Act fast, plan ahead. Speed was essential. Within weeks of school closures, the country rolled out a full suite of televised lessons. This rapid response prevented learning interruptions from becoming long-term setbacks.

A catalyst for innovation

It is tempting to view crisis responses as temporary stopgaps – makeshift solutions for an unusual time. But Uzbekistan’s case demonstrates that with the right planning, crisis can become a catalyst for lasting innovation in education delivery. Rather than defaulting back to the pre-pandemic normal, systems should reflect on what worked – and carry it forward.

In Uzbekistan, the success of televised instruction has sparked broader conversations about blended learning models and how to make education systems more inclusive. Distance learning, once a marginal solution, is now part of a long-term strategy to improve access and resilience.

Hope and possibility in the face of crisis

What makes Uzbekistan’s story remarkable is not that it had better infrastructure or more resources than others. It is that the Government made smart, inclusive, and fast decisions grounded in its local context. It prioritized all learners – not just those with internet access. And it invested in what matters most: quality teaching.

As researchers, we often approach distance education with scepticism. Many studies highlight its limitations, especially in developing contexts. So it was with some trepidation that we set out to evaluate Uzbekistan’s pandemic response. We were prepared to find stagnation or even regression. Instead, we found a success story—one that challenges the dominant narrative and offers real hope for global education.

The pandemic was, and remains, a tragedy. But it also revealed what’s possible when communities, educators, and governments rally together. Uzbekistan’s case is a reminder that education systems don’t just endure in times of crisis – they can innovate, adapt, and even thrive.

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One message is clear: the impact on learning is expected to be long-term, especially in those countries that did not have the resources to provide equitable distance learning opportunities of good quality for all. Globally only one in three children, and one in six of the poorest children, had access to the internet as school closures began. About 40% of children in Ethiopia and Nigeria followed radio programmes but only 10% in Ethiopia and 17% in Nigeria used mobile learning apps; barely any in Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mali and Uganda. While almost all countries deployed a mix of remote learning modalities, at least 463 million children could not access any remote learning opportunities, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

Key data collection processes have been interrupted – or the data they produce are less straightforward to interpret – which means that the implications of disruptions on attendance and on learning may remain opaque for a while. The paragraphs below summarize what we know at present, yet the full impact will not be known for years to come.

Target 4.1. The pandemic has put the goal of achieving universal primary and secondary education for all in jeopardy. Aside from the quarter of total days accounted for by closure for academic breaks, schools were closed for 28% of total days and partially closed for 26% between March 2020 and October 2021. But the variation between countries was large. Some countries never closed their schools, while in many Latin American countries, Bahrain, India and the Islamic Republic of Iran, schools were open for less than 5% of total instruction days.

Estimates of learning loss vary by context, school level and subjects. Marginal or no impact was observed in Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, while considerable losses were observed in Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and South Africa. A study by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics in six sub-Saharan African countries, released after the launch of the 2021/2 GEM Report, shows no impact on the percentage of children reaching minimum proficiency but probably because most children fall below this level. Two-thirds of countries implemented remedial measures in primary and secondary education but there is no consolidated information on the coverage and depth of these programmes.

Target 4.2. Children in preschools lost more instruction days in 2020 than in primary and secondary schools. By mid-2021, over 60 countries had not fully reopened pre-primary schools. A global survey by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank found that 44% of low-income countries and 71% of high-income countries provided materials for parents and caregivers. Pre-primary teachers in 55% of countries were asked to ensure learning continuity, compared to 70% for other education levels.

Target 4.3. Remote teaching, teaching preparation and access to devices and the internet represented the biggest challenges in technical, vocational and tertiary education. Up to 80% of TVET programmes focus on practical and soft skills, which should be acquired in person. One in two low-income and one in three lower-middle-income countries had to cancel all training. At the tertiary education level, where students were more exposed to remote learning prior to the pandemic, countries varied in their choice of online platforms and their preparedness for switching to online learning. In the United States, student enrolment fell by 6.5% on average between 2019 and 2021, but by 13% in four-year private for-profit and two-year public institutions, while it grew in highly selective universities and in graduate courses.

Target 4.4. Demand for digital skills soared since the pandemic began, making them a core priority of education, training and skills building. COVID-19 accelerated the digital transformation in labour markets and the acquisition of digital skills. But opportunities were not equally available for those lacking basic literacy or access to the internet and devices.

Target 4.5. The most serious legacy of COVID-19 on education has been its disproportionate impact on disadvantaged learners. Online learning was easier for students in richer than in poorer countries; at best, 6% of students in Africa would have been able to attend classes online and about 30% on television. Remote learning arrangements left learners with disabilities unsupported. A global survey of parents of children with disabilities found that only 19% of those in need had access to sign language interpretation. Migrants and refugee communities were also severely affected. Learning centres for the Rohingya in Bangladesh remained closed for 18 months.

Target 4.6. The pandemic demonstrated that the ability to read and count was crucial for health literacy and effective vaccination campaigns and needed to be included in reconstruction plans. In India, women participating in a literacy programme knew more about COVID-19 than their counterparts. But literacy and numeracy programmes were hit hard by the pandemic. But by mid-2020, 90% of adult literacy programmes were partially or even fully suspended.

Target 4.7. COVID-19 shed light on education system failures to pursue the ideas of solidarity and multilateralism. The growing inequality within and between countries raises moral concerns related to vaccine nationalism, xenophobic policies, and the spread of discriminatory beliefs. Just as such issues have become more urgent, however, the pandemic has led many governments to increase the curricular focus on ‘core’ subjects to minimize learning losses in these areas.

Target 4a. The pandemic has been a stark reminder that learners can be located in other environments when learning is remote, but also that adapting the school environment is crucial to provide a safe environment. In early 2021, less than 10% of low-income and 96% of high-income countries reported having necessary basic sanitation and hygiene facilities. In early 2020, 25% of countries and 50% of low-income countries, reported needing more resources to ensure the safety of learners and staff.

Target 4b. Tertiary education scholarships and student finances were severely affected as a result of the pandemic. In EU countries, 41% of students lost their jobs. In Latin America, more than 60% of public and 90% of private higher education institutions provided tuition discounts. Scholarships were also affected by travel restrictions and financial instability. In Finland, 48% of international students returned home. Vaccine inequalities also affected the mobility of students from the Global South for longest.

Target 4c. Teachers were hit hard by COVID-19. Thousands of teachers died as a result of the pandemic leading to two-thirds of countries to prioritize teachers in their vaccination plans. Teacher education and well-being was also affected by school closures and the limitations of remote learning. Among 20,000 teachers in 165 countries, 39% stated that their physical, mental, and emotional well-being had suffered.

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Due to COVID-19, schools across the world were fully closed, on average, for 79 instruction days in 2020. Although schools are now fully open in most countries, around 117 million students are still affected by full school closures in 18 countries.

In July 2020, UNESCO estimated that the pandemic would cause an increase of 24 million learners at risk of leaving school early of which 11 million in primary and secondary school. How many of these children would never go back to school? The answer to that question depends on the rapidly changing situation, pandemic recovery plans, and the continued efforts of governments and the international community to leave no one behind.

According to the data on 2020 enrolments recently released by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are 3.5 million more out-of-school learners in primary and secondary education relative to 2019, which brings the total from 256 million to 259.5 million in 2020. Why does the impact seem to be more muted than expected?

Two factors influence data in accounting students at risk of leaving school early.

First, the available data only partially captures the impact of the pandemic. In fact, although reported as ‘2020 enrolments’, most countries reported their 2019/20 academic year enrolments. In 3 of every 5 countries, which follow the northern hemisphere calendar, school years are divided by a break in the summer months, June through August. This means that much of the data was collected before the pandemic forced schools to close their doors and begin the 2020/21 school year remotely in the fall 2021. It is also worth noticing that the out-of-school regional averages estimates for 2020 could partially reflect pre-COVID enrolments trend because the estimates include imputations for missing data produced using the most recent, yet past, data available for countries with missing data for 2020.

Second, for countries that did report their 2020/21 enrolment data, these numbers likely do not tell the full story. Where in-person learning was suspended at the start of the year, digitized enrollment and attendance procedures may have failed to accurately count students, especially in places with weak education information management systems. Beyond the digital barriers, many systems continue to struggle capturing those out-of-school children not in the formal education system, such as students with additional needs enrolled in specialized schools.

Furthermore, students may have dropped from distance learning programs immediately after enrolling, such as those students without access to internet or devices, or those facing socioeconomic challenges to their continued learning. In countries that used TV and radio programmes for distance learning, accurately measuring student attendance is an additional challenge.

With these two factors in mind, the global picture of early school leaving risk would likely look different if countries’ reports included both 2020/21 enrolment and accounted for students who enrolled but never attended classes. At micro level, country case studies would help capture the extent of the pandemic impact on early school leaving.

There is broad consensus that it will take some time to understand the full picture of the pandemic’s impact on education and specifically on early school leaving. UNESCO will continue to collect and analyze the data as it becomes available. The 2020 dropout rate could climb higher than currently reported.

From a policy perspective, the increased early school leaving risk has not gone unnoticed. At global level, UNESCO together with UNICEF and the World Bank launched Mission Recovery to support countries in bringing all learners back to school. At country level, governments made—and continue to make—efforts to prevent early school leaving by ensuring learning continuity and offering health, sanitation, and financial support to learners and schools. Teachers, school leaders, and community organizations have also been critical actors in the push to prevent students from leaving school early. Despite these efforts, more support is still needed for learners at risk.

What can governments and the international community do now to address this risk and reduce the number of students who will no longer set foot again in an education institution?

Countries should consider three broad areas of policy action, as the Italian Presidency’s G20 education report highlighted. First, prevention actions, which tackle the root problems that eventually result in leaving school early. For example, adding flexible education and learning pathways can curtail early school leaving, as can sustained education financing and prioritizing gender equity and inclusion of vulnerable learners.

Second, intervention actions, which address emerging difficulties experienced by learners by improving the quality of education and training and by providing targeted support. These actions include supporting learners with special needs, students from ethnic minorities and poor socio-economic backgrounds, and schools to prioritize nutrition and wellbeing.

Third, compensation actions, which create new opportunities for those who have left education and training prematurely to gain qualifications. For example, second-chance programmes, non-formal education and pre-vocational training programmes.

Taken in tandem, these three types of actions will prevent more children from joining the nearly 260 million worldwide that may never go back to school. Only through collective action can we bring them back.

* Image credit: GPE/Alberto Begue

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“I didn’t need to be involved in household work earlier but now as I’m sitting at home, I must take up household chores. Yes, if I had a brother, he would not have to do household work, he would just roam around. But I have to get involved in housework because I am a girl,” said a 16-year-old girl from Bangladesh

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic 1.6 billion students in 190 countries were affected by school closures. Not only did they lose access to education, but also to the myriad benefits of attending school, at an unparalleled scale. Educational disruption of this extent has alarming effects on learning loss and school dropout. Beyond this, it poses threats to gender equality, including effects on health, well being and protection that are gender specific.

Drawing on evidence from about 90 countries and in-depth data collected in local communities in Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali and Pakistan, the UNESCO Global Study When schools shut: Gendered impacts of COVID-19 school closures brings to the fore that girls and boys, young women and men were affected differently by school closures, depending on the context. It shows that gender norms and expectations can affect the ability to participate in and benefit from remote learning.

As expressed eloquently in the quote at the start of this blog, the Global Study found that, in poorer contexts, girls’ time to learn was constrained by increased household chores. Boys’ participation in learning was limited by income-generating activities:

“My father is a farmer. He sometimes asks me to help him in the field. But he didn’t ask me to join him when I had school. But now I do not go to school, so I go to the fields to help him with his work.” – Interview, boy, age 17, Bangladesh.

These gendered impacts can be seen clearly in the table below taken from a survey of girls and boys in Kenya who did not return to school when they re-opened.

Our study also found that girls faced difficulties in engaging in digital remote learning modalities in many contexts because of limited access to internet-enabled devices, a lack of digital skills and cultural norms restricting their use of technological devices.

The digital gender-divide was already a concern before the COVID-19 crisis. The in-depth studies on Bangladesh and Pakistan in the global report revealed its gendered effects on remote learning during school closures. In the study on Pakistan, only 44% of girls in participating districts reported owning mobile phones for their personal use, whereas 93% of boys did so. Girls who did not own mobile phones reported that they relied on their relatives’ devices, typically those belonging to their fathers.

The longitudinal study on Bangladesh showed that girls studied under the supervision of family members, pointing to the importance of family support for continuous studying. The most accessible form of remote learning was television, whereas computer-based learning was least accessible for girls. Even though television was most accessible, only 52% of girls reported having a television at home. While 95% of girls reported that their household owned a mobile phone, only 24% reported having a smartphone. While some of the girls were able to use family members’ phones, they were not always able to do so. Their access was restricted since some parents were concerned that providing girls with access to smartphones would lead to misuse and could result into romantic relationships. The longer girls were out of school, the higher was the risk of learning loss. From April to September 2020, the share of girls reporting that they did not study at all increased from 1 to 10 percent.

The Global Study makes several recommendations on how to challenge gender-based barriers for participation in remote learning. To advance equal access to gender-responsive and inclusive remote learning, it recommends to:

• provide a range of remote learning options including low-tech and no-tech solutions
  • spearhead and support efforts to reach the most at-risk learners
  • design and develop gender-responsive educational resources and tools
  • provide appropriate teacher support and training
  • use formative assessments to track learning outcomes

The study was published by UNESCO under the umbrella of the Global Education Coalition’s Gender Flagship. It was prepared by the Population Council, with funding from the Global Partnership for Education. Along with its research into education, it also investigates the gender-specific effects on health, well-being and protection. It is a timely reminder that schools are sites not only for learning, but also lifelines for girls and boys – an essential space for their health, well-being and protection.

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“Because we dream of a better future, because we want to succeed, we want your support to make our voices heard and our demands realised. Be with us to create a strong and effective generation.”

Mya, a girl from Lebanon

The education of hundreds of millions of children in 48 countries is at extreme or high risk of collapsing as factors such as climate change, lack of COVID-19 vaccines, displacement, attacks on schools and lack of digital connectivity are jeopardising their access to safe, inclusive and quality learning – unless action is taken now. Given the scale of the learning crisis that existed before the pandemic, it’s vital that we don’t limit our ambition to building ‘back’ to how things were. Now it’s imperative we Build Forward Better and differently.

Even before the Covid-19 global education emergency, 258 million school-aged children – one child in six – were already denied their right to education. Now, even more children are impacted by the learning crisis. In low-income, fragile and conflict-affected countries, the pandemic has compounded the education inequalities and discrimination so many children face.

Almost two years since COVID-19 first disrupted schooling in parts of Southeast Asia, no national education system in the world is back to ‘normal’. In the face of huge challenges, children have demonstrated remarkable resilience and agency. But the pandemic has had a devastating impact on their learning and wellbeing. We estimate that, because of the economic effects of COVID-19 alone, at least 10–16 million children are at risk of not returning to school, with girls worst affected.

The pandemic made the inter-dependencies between education, protection, health, nutrition and poverty in children’s lives increasingly apparent. And as a result, Save the Children adapted quickly by working across all sectors in an integrated way. We’ve learned how to respond holistically to crises and increase our impact for children.

In addition, the climate emergency, conflict and displacement are affecting education systems and economies. It is likely that the frequency and length of these kinds of crises are increasing.

The analysis in our new Build Forward Better report released today shows which education systems are most vulnerable to existing risks and future crises. Education systems in a quarter (48) of the world’s countries are at ‘extreme’ or ‘high’ risk of collapse, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Mali, and Libya at extreme risk, closely followed by Syria and Yemen.

This list of countries won’t be surprising. These countries’ education systems need urgent attention and resources from national governments and international actors to prevent full blown crises. 

The idea of ‘building back better’ has long been applied to responding to crises globally – and is being used frequently today. But we must question the foundations of the education systems that have proven so fragile in the face of this level of disruption. We must also recognise that this crisis is an opportunity for hope and positive change.

Our Build Forward Better report explains what Save the Children and others have learned from the response to this pandemic. And what needs to happen now to ensure that education systems are better prepared, resilient and inclusive as they respond.

The pandemic has highlighted the need for iterative planning that is flexible enough to allow for anticipatory action based on forecasted or real-time data. Today, we can predict with increasing confidence the occurrence and potential impact of certain climatic shocks, political and conflict dynamics, and communicable diseases. The available data can help decision-makers agree to release pre-arranged funds for pre-agreed interventions that take place before such shocks occur to mitigate their impact.

By taking this anticipatory approach – using analysis of risk as well as need – ministries of education, along with the humanitarian community, can better realise children’s right to safe, quality education. Ministries of education should do this by institutionalising risk reduction and management in education planning processes – a process known as crisis-sensitive education planning. Technical and financial partners should support a country’s ministry of education, aligning short-term interventions with the ministry’s medium- and long-term objectives and activities.

The following 8-point plan brings together ten lessons learned from the COVID-19 integrated response and the actions required to deliver them (detailed in the report). This plan should urgently be adopted by low- and middle-income governments, donor governments, international agencies and funders, civil society, the private sector, and philanthropy to build forward better education systems.

1. COVID-19 recovery:  Ensure children can return to school safely and get their learning back on track.  
2. Preparedness: Every country must have a preparedness plan to secure children’s learning and wellbeing in future crises.  
3. Target out-of-school children: Ensure children who face discrimination and were out of school before the pandemic can access safe learning opportunities.  
4. Keep learning safe: Protect learning from violence and attacks, and from the impact of the climate emergency.  
5. Scale up and adapt financing: Urgently fill the education financing gap and adjust financing modalities to enable anticipatory action. 
6. Get the data right: Collect more and improved data for agile decision-making. 
7. Focus on equity and child participation: Reach the children most affected by inequality and discrimination first and include children in analysing, designing, implementing and evaluating programmes. 
8. Shift power: Move decision-making power and resources to national and local civil society.  

Register for an event on 8 September 2pm UK time to hear more about the report. 

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Far worse than the first one, the second wave of Covid-19 in India devastated the country, and made national and international headlines. Neighbouring countries especially Nepal – with which it shares an open border – also saw a spiralling in the number of cases and deaths. After a post-first wave lull in cases, a slew of political and religious events with mass gatherings were organized. The combination of a slow vaccination rollout, deadly virus mutations, and a rise in misinformation exposed the frailty of the country’s health, social and governance infrastructures. This slew of developments led to an unprecedented situation – at its peak, there were over 400,000 cases per day in India, the highest record in any country.

Estimates from the first wave were already showing that the pandemic disproportionately affects the poor. Since the pandemic began in 2020, the number of people with incomes of $2 or less a day is estimated to have increased by 75 million in India. This means that India alone will account for nearly 60% of the global increase in poverty in 2020. This will only rise with the second wave.

This crisis has exposed the lack of system resilience, especially harming the poor, and the short and long-term education effects will be devastating. It has also highlighted the challenge of misinformation and the importance of critical thinking skills (for young people and adults) if we are ever to return to a ‘new normal’.

Education systems and indicators are substantially affected

The pandemic has had serious implications for all aspects of the education sector, particularly affecting teachers, children from low-income households, and the viability of low-fee private schools.

Teachers have had to bear a dramatic burden in this pandemic.

It has impacted the teaching-learning progress in all schools due to the shift to remote learning. Ms. Chandra Prabha Bhatia, a government school (Kendriya Vidyalaya) teacher from Kolkata, interviewed for this blog summarizes the impact on the education sector and the teacher job:

“Many of our students could not attend classes citing reasons such as ‘exhausting their daily internet packs’, ‘having to share devices with siblings’ or ‘parents taking the shared devices to their workplaces’. Some parents of first-generational learners think that remote teaching is not useful while some other are finding it difficult to help their children with schoolwork.

Hats-off to school teachers who have learnt to adapt to remote teaching almost overnight and many did so without any previous training!

I believe that we have helped maintain continuity in education, even if that means that I have had to receive and send pages and pages of children’s work over Whatsapp.”

In more devastating news, in India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh,  teachers were forced to participate in local elections conducted in April 2021 that resulted in the death of over 1600 teachers and support staff on poll-duty from Covid-19. The teaching-politician nexus is well-known in India. While there is a history of strong teacher unions, teachers also need to remain in the good books of politicians for lucrative transfers and promotions. Thus, if teachers are deputed by the Election Commission for poll-duty, refusal to do so can have repercussions on their career.

Covid-19 related school closures have had disproportionate and multifaceted effects on children from low-income households. Only 8% of Indian households with members aged between 5 and 24 have access to both internet connectivity and digital devices. The resulting learning losses have been profound as measured by a study covering 16,067 children in public schools across 5 Indian states. The results showed that 92% of children have lost at least one specific language ability, while 82% of them lost at least one specific mathematical ability as compared to the previous year across all classes.

The pandemic has also brought into question the sustainability of private schools, that cater to more than 50% of the Indian school going student population. Amongst them, low fee private schools are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain themselves financially as parents fail to pay fees on time, students transfer to public schools, and governments slash reimbursements linked to the Right to Education Act stipulations. A study conducted across 246 school leaders across 20 states in India revealed that 55% of teachers across private schools faced a reduction in salary during the lockdown while schools have faced a revenue dip from 20 to 50%.

The COVID-19 “infodemic” has to be dealt with seriously

Even though the second wave subsided, a third wave is imminent. As governments plan to open schools and a return to normal, it is imperative to encourage the adoption of Covid-19 appropriate protocols and counter vaccine hesitancy. However, the rise of misinformation in India continues to pose a threat.

A paradigm shift in the communication infrastructure, penetration of social media, lack of digital literacy and inadequate government safeguards contributed to the rise of misinformation, that has been especially visible and damaging during the Covid-19 pandemic. The scale of misinformation is huge considering India’s social media platform user base of more than 500 million. Out of the many social media platforms, Whatsapp and Facebook are amongst the main sources of misinformation.

Health related misinformation such as unscientific Covid-19  home remedies, vaccine rumours, false government announcements and misconstrued statistics accounted for 62.1 % of the reported fake news, according to an analysis of reports from fact-checking websites. Doctors and medical professionals have had to adapt themselves to treat the “infodemic” that is accompanying the pandemic. In a cross-sectional survey of more than 700 medical professionals in India, 68.2% reported receiving misinformation from multiple sources while more than half of the respondents found it difficult to distinguish between correct and incorrect information. As medical professionals are often key information providers to patients and their communities, they find the spread of misinformation particularly challenging.

Educational interventions are key to counter the threat of misinformation at all levels. It is crucial to impart critical thinking skills along with digital skills at schools to reduce such online risks.

The 2018 PISA reading assessments highlighted that if students were taught to distinguish between objective or biased information in school, they performed better in sections of the test that measured their ability to differentiate facts from opinions. 

UNESCO MGIEP based in New Delhi has recently developed an online course for learners aged 13+ and educators to develop critical social and emotional skills during the pandemic. The course will equip learners with skills to tackle rumours, misinformation and fake news related to Covid-19.

Beyond formal education, informal awareness campaigns using animation and comics in visually engaging formats also help disseminate knowledge about misinformation to both children and adults. An NGO in Assam has been running cartoons in the local newspapers that caricaturise the infodemic and pandemic as its lead protagonists who highlight the menace of misinformation. Similarly, India’s first female comic superhero, Priya, has taken upon herself to fight fake news around the pandemic and encourage appropriate behaviour in animated videos.

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to a massive shutdown of in-person education across the world forcing teachers and students to adapt quickly to a “new normal” of online learning. While many studies analysed the effectiveness of online classes for student learning, to our knowledge, none have focused on how well teachers can learn new skills online.

In Armenia, the pandemic hit in the midst of the introduction of new financial literacy topics into the school curriculum, just when teachers were lining up to be trained on the subject. While the training was conducted in person before the pandemic, it had to finish remotely afterwards. This natural experiment enabled us to compare how efficient online teaching is relative to traditional face-to-face teaching. We found that online teacher training is no match to traditional in-person teacher education, an important lesson for others to learn.

In our experiment, using detailed data from Armenian schools, we looked for answers to three questions:

1. Did remote learning impact the teachers’ ability to learn?

2. Does the effectiveness of remote training depend on the complexity of the topic?

3. Which individual teacher characteristics determine the ability to adapt?

Meta-analyses of a number of studies in the field reveal that, while e-learning is successful in sustaining academic interest and continuing development, it suffers from a lack of face-to-face interaction with the instructor and classroom socialization.

A recent experiment conducted amongst students of the Lomonosov Moscow State University using web-based workshops, for instance, showed that online learning is no full-fledged alternative to traditional educational settings, as cognitive and behavioural components of professional competencies do not transfer to a virtual environment. Another experiment analysed the effectiveness of online vocational training and found that maintaining student engagement, facilitation of practical skills acquisition and organization of work-based learning proved difficult in online learning.

In Armenia, a new financial education programme was introduced in 2018 into the mathematics and social science curriculum in grades 2 to 11 in 350 schools. Before the start of each academic year, teachers receive training on core financial concepts, as well as teaching techniques and roadmaps. The training has two main objectives: ensure that teachers absorb the necessary financial knowledge; and provide the skills for proper integration and delivery of the new material in the classroom.

Training participants answered tests both before and three months after the training, which have enabled us to measure its success. The training covered two modules on factual knowledge and implementation skills. The module on factual knowledge covered the ‘big three questions’, as defined by Lusardi and Mitchel, which check for understanding of compound interest rates, inflation and risk diversification. The module on implementation skills covered four questions testing integration, lecture planning, concept selection, and grading.

We first looked at the overall improvements three months after the training. The impact was significantly positive for both in-person and remote learners. However, the post-training scores were significantly smaller in 2020 than in 2019, indicating that online training was less effective than conventional face-to-face training.

Figure 1. Learning improvement among online learners in 2020 and in-person learners in 2019

Was remote learning less effective when it came to  acquiring factual knowledge or implementation skills? To answer this question, we came up with two indices on each to measure progress. We found that the level of additional financial knowledge attained by the teachers was almost the same for both years, implying that virtual training can be very effective for sharing general information. In contrast, the improvement in implementation skills was significantly lower for teachers of the 2020 cohort, which would indicate that such skills are difficult to learn through online learning platforms in the absence of appropriate social communication.

Can any of the teachers’ characteristics explain these differences? Several interesting patterns emerge from our findings. Unmarried and divorced teachers did as wellas their counterparts in the offline group, but married teachers performed worse online than when they receive in persontraining. In addition, teachers from richer households performed better during the online training, while performance was independent of household income for the face-to-face training. And lastly, teachers who are the main household earners performed better in the offline training. These factors plausibly proxy for teachers’ learning environments including the quality of online access, as well as workspace conditions. Moreover, they might also be correlated with pandemic-related stress, in particular childcare problems.

Figure 2. Improvement of implementation skills by characteristics

To conclude, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced education systems worldwide to adopt alternatives for face-to-face teaching and learning. While the crisis offers an exceptional opportunity to reimagine education and to start realizing a vision for the future of online learning, the proper functionality of the latter is still a major concern. Our research, based on a financial education programme for teachers, shows that although e-learning works well for factual knowledge attainment, it does not have the same effectiveness when it comes to instructional competencies. Moreover, different groups of learners are affected very differently. Some groups perform equally well in online environments and traditional face-to-face instruction, while others do a lot worse, possibly due to their working environment, technical ability and stress level.

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Extensive calls to ‘build back better’ are being made in response to the continued impacts and restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. For education, with close to half the world’s students still affected by partial or full school closures, these new challenges compound a long-standing global learning crisis where more than half of children and adolescents are unable to reach minimum proficiency levels in foundation subjects.  

Efforts such as #SaveOurFuture have been critical in collectively identifying actions to deliver change to the education sector in the wake of Covid-19. The campaign’s associated White Paper crucially sets out priorities including to ‘make education inclusive’ and to ‘target public spending at those left furthest behind’. Evidence of inequities in education systems was widespread even before the crisis caused by COVID-19, with learning opportunities unevenly distributed and quality education often unobtainable for the most marginalized children, adolescents, and young people. Moreover, many are especially at risk of education exclusion through compounded marginalisation due to intersecting inequalities.

Recent ODI research across a sub-set of 38 countries that have shown substantive gains on primary completion rates over the last two decades revealed several critical lessons in relation to education equity and past experience.

Firstly, a focus on marginalised groups, such as girls, contributes to faster overall education progress. In our multivariate analyses and through a series of robustness tests, we found that faster progress was achieved by countries that put in place laws targeting enrolment and completion for girls, and in countries that collected data on education for girls, with scholarships for girls attending primary education as particularly significant. There is potential that a greater level of focus on other excluded groups could similarly drive faster progress for education systems as a whole.

Secondly, governments operate on a hierarchy of priority in terms of excluded groups, with most groups receiving very limited policy attention. A higher level of education policy attention is generally given to children in rural and remote areas, disadvantaged linguistic groups, children with disabilities and special needs and girls. Much lower levels of policy attention were found in relation to indigenous and religious groups, children without registration, orphans and children connected to the street. Worryingly, government plans were largely silent on education for other groups, including children displaced by conflict, non-documented migrants, those living in informal settlements and enslaved children.

Thirdly, countries that increase government expenditure experience faster progress in primary completion. Countries in our sample of strong performers increased expenditure on primary education by 29%, significantly higher than the 10% among countries with slower progress. Both groups of countries equally increased expenditure on education as a proportion of total expenditure, demonstrating that the difference between both groups of countries is not related to increases in the share of the budget, but to the total amount oriented to education. Our regressions further showed the importance of making primary education free, which we know is critical from an equity perspective.

Finally, while we were able to see an association with increased foreign aid and debt relief, this did not necessarily seem to be a determinant factor in education progress. This is notable in that, while finance is key, our analysis clarifies the critical role of policy commitments and enacting a range of strategies such as teacher training in relation to driving changed in education. Aid has a role to play, but change is dependent on a range of other enabling factors that are critical to keep in mind in efforts to move toward more equitable education systems.

What educational inclusion means in practice is complex and there will never be one single formula for achieving greater equity. Once large-scale primary education progress has been made it is the most marginalised that continue to be excluded, with policy commitments to reach these groups too often falling far short of what is needed to maintain progress.

This week, the UK and Kenya co-host the Global Education Summit, seeking a US$5 billion replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to take forward its multi-stakeholder efforts supporting education systems in up to 90 countries and territories. This level of investment begs the critical question of what ‘building back better’ looks like and to what extent a focus on inclusion receives attention in terms of what is most needed for investment.

Greater attention on the issue is needed, given that recent GEM Report findings showed only one in five countries have inclusive financing mechanisms in place. Earlier today in the side-lines of the GES the GEM Report and the World Bank co-hosted a special side-event on financing for disability inclusive education co-hosted with the International Disability and Development Consortium, International Disability Alliance, the Global Action on Disability Network, the Global Campaign for Education and with the support of the Global Partnership of Education. Ministers of Education from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Ethiopia joined young disability advocates from Nepal and Brazil to share insights and promising practices on how this can be improved. If you couldn’t make the event, watch the webinar.

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Since the first school closures in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented education systems with unprecedented challenges. The declaration of the Global Education Meeting (GEM) in October 2020 captured the concerns of the international education community and a set of commitments that would need to be monitored.

On the occasion of the latest Global Education Meeting, which took place last week, on July 13, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) published a new Information Paper, which offers a progress report against these commitments based on the third round of the Joint Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures, conducted by UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and OECD, and data available from government websites and publications.

GEM commitment 7.1 to increase education financing. Overall, global government spending on education as a share of total government spending decreased from 2019 to 2021. However,looking at the education budgets of more than 100 countries, affecting around three-quarters of the school-age population, most actually increased their education spending. Thus, the decrease seen between 2019 and 2021 means that spending in areas other than education have been increasing at a relatively faster pace, as a result of stimulus packages.

Budget on education as a proportion of total government budget, 2019–2021

A recent report for the G20 Education working group indicated that stimulus packages could have provided a substantial boost of education funding. Yet, on average, only 3.2% went to education, according to a UNESCO analysis as of April 2021.

GEM commitment 8.1 to safely reopen schools. Safely reopening education institutions requires minimizing virus transmission in schools. But, according to the latest Joint Survey results, although almost all ministries of education endorsed the implementation of specific health and hygiene guidelines and measures for schools, only 55% of countries reported having adequate resources (e.g., soap, masks etc.) and infrastructure (e.g., clean water, WASH facilities) to do so in reality. Low-income countries struggle even more, only 6% of them indicated that they had enough resources and infrastructure to assure the safety of learners and all school staff.

Countries endorsing and complying with health measures in schools, 2019/2020 school year

The GEM commitment to safely reopen schools also stipulates that this action should be “equity-oriented”. Yet, only 9% of countries reported taking one or more measures to specifically support the education of at least one vulnerable group (i.e. girls, ethnic minorities, etc.).

GEM commitment 8.2 to support teachers and education personnel. Supporting teaching and education personnel is essential to closing the learning gaps as schools reopen. Although this can assume many forms, the Joint Survey focused on the recruitment of additional staff, provision of training and professional development in the use of technologies. Compared to the second Joint Survey round, the percentage of countries that recruited additional teachers following the reopening of schools in 2019/2020 increased from 26% to 33%. Most countries offered special training to teachers on remote learning and provided professional development activities (e.g., workshops and webinars) on pedagogy and effective use of technologies with various pedagogies.

Countries supporting teachers and education personnel, 2019/2020 school year

Notably, 40% of upper-middle-income countries in 2019/20 recruited additional teachers – more than any other income group – but just 25% of low-income countries. Most countries provided teachers with special training and professional development activities on pedagogy and effective use of technologies. Unfortunately, the provision of such support to teachers was much lower in low-income countries.

Countries recruiting and supporting teachers and education personnel by income group, 2019/20 school year

GEM commitment 8.3 to invest in workforce skills development. Globally, 41% of countries responding to the survey had planned new training programmes or activities in digital skills for their workforce, while 30% of countries took measures to foster social and emotional learning and well-being, or to develop attitudes, knowledge and behaviour for sustainable development for labourers. Only 14% of low-income countries planned measures to facilitate skills development, decent work and enhanced employability during the pandemic. This has serious implications for worsening in-country and global inequities among the labour force.

Provision of supportive resources to facilitate skills development for labourers during the pandemic across countries, 2020/21 school year

GEM commitment 8.4 to narrow the digital divide. As education systems were forced to adapt quickly to distance learning platforms, most governments around the world provided a remote learning modality in primary and secondary education. At the pre-primary level, 95% of countries provided at least one type of distance learning solution in 2020/21, corresponding to 65% of students.

Provision of remote learning modalities by education level, 2019/20 school year

The provision of remote learning solutions does not in itself ensure uptake by learners. The use of distance education varies by level of education: 61% of students at pre-primary level compared with 77% at upper secondary level engaged in distance education during school closures in 2019/20.

Student usage of distance education during school closures by income group and education level, 2019/20 school year

Knowing where we stand in our commitments will help us reassess and adjust strategies to recover from education deficits. Refocusing initiatives to provide much-needed resources and support to prepare learners for the challenges of tomorrow is an ongoing endeavour that will require regular reassessments. In our ongoing efforts to attain SDG 4, the UIS remains committed to working with education partners to make the path to success clearer so we can ensure that our collective education goals come within reach.

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According to a new UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and OECD global survey of national education responses to COVID-19 school closures done in collaboration with the GEM Report, only one-third of countries are taking steps to measure learning losses in primary and lower secondary education, while one-third are not implementing remedial programmes.

In 2020, schools around the world were fully closed for 79 teaching days on average across all four education levels (pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary). Closures ranged from 53 days in high-income to 115 days in lower-middle-income countries.

With schools now re-opening, fewer than one-third of low- and middle-income countries reported that all students had returned, heightening the risk of early school leaving. And only one in four countries is providing incentives such as cash, food, transport or fee waivers to help girls or children from disadvantaged families return to school.

Carried out with financial support from the Global Partnership for Education, in total 142 countries responded to the survey that covers the period from February to May 2021. It was the third iteration of the survey with previous rounds covering the periods May–June and July–October 2020, respectively.

Countries’ responses document how they are monitoring and mitigating learning losses, addressing the challenge of reopening schools safely and deploying distance learning strategies. Some key findings include the following:

• To make up for school closures, countries have responded with a variety of measures to mitigate potential learning losses: Around 40% of countries extended the academic year, while just over 40% prioritized certain curriculum areas or skills. However, more than half of countries reported that no adjustments have been or will be made at any education level.
• Globally, 28% of countries cancelled examinations in lower secondary and 18% of countries did so in upper secondary education.
• Reviewing or revising access policies was uncommon, especially for girls – a cause for concern as adolescent girls are at highest risk of not returning to school in low- and lower-middle income countries.
• Low-income countries are lagging behind in the implementation of even the most basic measures to ensure a safe return to school: for instance, less than 10% reported having sufficient soap, clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and masks to assure the safety of all learners and staff, compared to 96% of high-income countries.
• Most countries reported that teachers were or would be a priority target for vaccination against COVID-19, either through a national immunization measure (59%) or through the COVAX initiative (7%).

The survey also sheds light on the deployment and effectiveness of distance learning and related support more than one year into the pandemic. Results show that:

• Most countries, across income groups, took various actions to provide remote learning and issued corresponding instructions to teachers (89%). However, these solutions were not necessarily taken up by students. Over one-third of low- and lower middle-income countries that provided lessons through TV or radio reported that less than half of primary school students were reached.
• The report says that ensuring uptake and engagement requires remote learning strategies suited to the context, along with parental engagement and support from and to teachers. Furthermore, the effectiveness of remote learning is not always assessed. Only 27% of low- and lower-middle-income countries responded that they had a fully implemented policy on digital learning, compared to half of high-income countries.

These findings reinforce the importance of reopening schools safely, providing remedial learning and setting up more effective remote learning systems that can better withstand future crises.

The results of the report are being presented today at a webinar at 17.00 Paris time.

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Truth be told, we are used to emergencies. I am the principal of a school in one of the largest Palestine refugee camps in Lebanon. The camp was set up just after 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war. Three generations of families have lived here – people who have known only this camp as their home.  After the Syrian war broke out, even more Palestinians moved in after having been forced to flee Syria.

Currently, 45% of Palestine refugees in Lebanon live in camps, in small, overcrowded houses of usually one or two concrete rooms. In some camp sectors, the alleys between shelters are so small that sunlight cannot be seen, and the coffins of the dead cannot pass. There were armed clashes a few years ago, so military checkpoints have been erected at every entrance. All of us, whether we have fled wars or lived in the camp all our lives, are accustomed to existing in a state of emergency, preoccupied with our safety and that of our families. 

When COVID-19 hit, it was a different kind of threat, an unseen enemy. Despite this, since we have always been on constant alert, we felt prepared. The school has closed a number of times due to clashes and other emergencies, so we already had a system in place that would allow children to study from home. This is the system on which we fell back when the school was forced to close in February 2020 in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. 

From the first day of school closure, we were able to communicate to parents through the WhatsApp groups we had created to send our frequent security updates. UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) developed a shortened version of the curriculum to include only the core subjects, such as Arabic, English, Science and Mathematics. All the teachers and school staff received training on online communication tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. 15 days after the closure of the school, we were ready for the first online classes. I heard that in some countries in Europe, it took months for the schools to prepare for online lessons. It helps that we are experts in emergency preparedness, living under bullets. We can move swiftly.

We also had counsellors in place – thanks to the support of the European Union’s Madad Fund and the Belgium Government’s Education in Emergencies (EIE) for Palestine Refugee Children project – who provided psychosocial support to the most vulnerable children and families. We didn’t know how long the school closure would last, so their intervention was critical. Beyond the mental health aspect, parents and children needed to know how to deal with the issues that inevitably arose during lockdown. For example, a typical problem affecting many families was a lack of devices, with many homes having to share one smartphone among six people or more. Our counsellors helped the parents to schedule lessons, so that children did not miss out on their learning. Our teachers were therefore able to focus on teaching.

Despite having had systems in place and having moved fast, it has not been easy. The reality is that the vast majority of people in the camp are living beneath the poverty line. Many families rely on the financial support of UNRWA to make ends meet. The Lebanese government prevents Palestine refugees from exercising the right to work in more than 50 professions.  This is also the case for many teachers – we are refugees teaching refugees. 

Beside the lack of devices, the electricity is sporadic. Many homes are dark for a large part of the day, and the Wi-Fi is unreliable. For those children who did not have access to any laptops or smartphones, UNRWA developed self-learning printed materials that were handed to them on a weekly basis and collected by teachers to grade and provide feedback. We also had to be flexible. Teachers were shared between classes and even between schools so that children didn’t miss out on any lessons. We devised a testing system that assessed students based on their online participation and the quality of the work they handed in.

Still, we could not reach all children. We estimate that about 30% of students did not participate at all in learning. Part of the problem is the constant worry about the lack of funds and threats of budget cuts. According to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report, refugee education remains underfunded with just an estimated US$800 million spent in 2016. Investment in refugee education needs to increase tenfold to meet the needs of refugee students, so that they are able to attend and complete school and receive quality education that will equip them for the next stage of their lives.

This is money well spent. Educating refugees will help lift them out of poverty, so that they are able to make a positive contribution to the countries that host them. In fact, I myself am an UNRWA graduate, became an UNRWA employee, and have been trying to give back to my community by walking the extra mile to deliver quality education for my students. 

The rate of student participation increased when we received funding from donors who invested in emergency education. This came as a huge relief, as we were able to provide additional tablets to children and also help pay for Wi-Fi. Using tablets has promoted active participation by 10-15% in my school. The US government had cut all funding in 2018, and this was followed by an unprecedented financial crisis for Palestine refugees. When the funding was resumed this year, relief and gratitude was felt among UNRWA’s staff, since we know that services can be delivered to Palestine refugees without interruption, while we employees no longer have to live in constant fear of not being paid next month. A weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

My school reopened its doors this month to all 438 students. It has been incredible to welcome them back after over a year of remote learning. However, 20 disadvantaged children who did not have access to remote learning are reluctant to come back to school. They feel left out and fear they will be unable catch up with their fellow students. We are now pulling out all the stops  to convince them to return to school by setting up a catch-up program just for them. 

COVID-19 has severely disrupted school systems, and there is a danger that this will lead to a lost generation. I estimate that it will take two years to help the students who have fallen behind to catch up. Refugee children are resilient, because they have survived conflict and adversity. With the proper investment and support, we can ensure that their education is not damaged further.

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Substantial progress has been made in educating girls and young women in low- and middle-income countries over the last few decades.  The 2020 GEM Gender Report estimated that 180 million more girls have enrolled in primary and secondary education since 1995. 

The Young Lives study, which has been following the lives of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Viet Nam since 2001, has highlighted significant improvement in the educational attainment and performance of both girls and boys compared to their parents, despite the impact of persistent inequalities and gender disparities. Our latest survey, however, adds to the mounting evidence that COVID-19 could not only halt progress but also reverse important gains, hitting those living in poor communities hardest.

New findings from the Listening to Young Lives at Work COVID-19 phone survey shows that while the pandemic has had significant economic and social impacts on adolescent girls and boys, the combined pressures of interrupted education, increased domestic work and widespread stresses on household finances are having a disproportionate impact on girls and young women, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Urgent action is required to support vulnerable girls and women to continue their education and avoid long term impacts on their future life chances.

The poorest girls and young women are at greater risk of dropping out of school

Following a lost year of learning, there is a real risk that many poorer students, particularly those from rural backgrounds and without internet access, will be left behind and may never return to education. In Peru, 18% of 19-year-old students in the Young Lives sample had not enrolled to continue their studies by December 2020. Reasons most often given were related to the difficulty in paying fees (as a result of lockdowns), cancelled classes, or a lack of means to attend online lessons.

In Ethiopia, 39% of 19-year-old girls, who were enrolled in education in 2020, had not engaged in any form of learning (including online learning) since school closures began. Even in Viet Nam, where overall internet access is relatively high, students from rural areas were still much less likely to have resumed their classes by December 2020 (63%), compared to their urban counterparts (95%).

Among those most likely to have been disadvantaged by interruptions to their education, it is girls from poor and marginalised communities who have been hardest hit. In India, our results showed a 23 percentage point drop between 2020 enrolment and actual attendance among 18-19 year old girls from Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, compared to an 11-point drop for boys in this group.

Increasing burdens of domestic work and childcare may reduce girls’ ability to study.

Across all four Young Lives study countries, we find that households tend to resort to traditional gender roles at times of stress, with girls and young women bearing the greatest burden of increased household duties and looking after children. Even where this does not result in dropping out of school, this is likely to significantly reduce the time girls have available to keep up with schoolwork.

In India, 67% of girls spent increased time on childcare during lockdown, compared with only 38% of boys, with similar results found for household work, a factor that previous Young Lives research has found to impact on school attendance. In Ethiopia, 70% of girls spent more time on household work during the pandemic response, compared with only 26% of boys.

Changes in time, use and redistribution of household and caring responsibilities among 19-year-olds, by gender

Girls whose education has been interrupted are particularly at risk of worsening mental health

There are several reasons to be particularly concerned about girls dropping out from school and university following interruptions to their education. While we have seen some improvements, as countries have lifted COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, remarkably high rates of anxiety have continued among young people, particularly in Peru, where almost 40% of 19-year-old girls (compared to 32% of 19-year-old boys) reported symptoms associated with at least mild anxiety.

In Ethiopia, 19-year-old girls whose education had been interrupted were nearly three times more likely to experience anxiety and twice as likely to report feelings of depression than those who were not enrolled in education.  We found no significant difference between male students and non-students.

Being out of school puts the poorest girls at greater risk of early marriage and parenthood

While we do not yet have specific data on the impact of COVID-19 on rates of early marriage and parenthood across the Young Lives sample, our findings suggest a significant increase in underlying risk factors.

Previous Young Lives evidence demonstrates that girls staying in school is one of the most important factors to reduce early marriage, with schools providing a key platform for advice and counselling.  Increasing economic hardship and prevailing discriminatory social norms exacerbated by the pandemic, further increase the risk of vulnerable girls experiencing early marriage and parenthood.

So what can be done?

COVID-19 recovery plans should include adequate education funding to urgently address a lost year of learning, including in higher education, with a specific focus on supporting vulnerable girls and young women.  This is particularly critical at a time when significant government spending has understandably been redirected to health priorities.

Supporting disadvantaged girls and young women to stay in education will require a number of targeted measures. Gender sensitive ‘back to school and university’ campaigns should target girls in poor and rural households, including the consideration of cash transfer schemes to reward disadvantaged students where appropriate. Schools and universities need to be effectively supported for the safe reopening and resumption of classes, with efforts to ensure continuing distance learning reaches all students, particularly disadvantaged girls, with extended targeted catch-up programmes and effective teacher training. 

Longer-term policies to help address the huge digital divide are required, given the likelihood of continuing online learning, including providing digital devices and internet connectivity in rural areas and for the poorest households.

But to really help vulnerable girls and young women get back to school, we need a range of complementary support programmes responding to specific country contexts.  These should include initiatives to help address increasing levels of unpaid housework; adapting social protection programmes to be more shock- and gender-responsive; prioritising urgently needed mental health and psychosocial support for young people; addressing increasing rates of domestic violence; and challenging discriminatory gender stereotypes, which may have been reinforced during the pandemic.

• For more detail see recent Young Lives at Work policy briefs on the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of young people in Ethiopia and India; further briefs from our research in Peru and Vietnam are forthcoming. 
• Young Lives is planning to conduct further phone surveys in 2021, with the next regular round of data collection (Round 6) in 2022, depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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