ENSURING FULL RECOVERY FROM COVID-19 EDUCATIONAL DISRUPTIONS IN AFRICA

By: Dr. Ada G. Omile

A paper presented at the African Confederation of Principals’ (ACP) conference held at Eswatini in August 2023.

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown impacted education systems significantly all over the world The primary and secondary school children in Africa experienced learning loss during the closures due to lack of preparedness from the government to effectively migrate learning from the classrooms to online This paper examined research on the impact of COVID-19 education disruptions in Africa when schools were abruptly closed, as well as highlighting the challenges faced when schools switched to online learning and how school leaders navigated their role during the pandemic This research also reviewed strategies that others have used in the past to close the gap in learning and shows COVID-19 as an accelerator to build back better education systems in Africa This research concludes with innovative solutions to ensure full education recovery in Africa.

Keywords: COVID-19, education disruptions, recovery, teaching, and learning.

Introduction

Research reported that the world health Organization declared the COVID-19 as a pandemic in March of 2020, upon the declaration, nations around the world shut down everything: businesses, government offices, and schools. As part of public health measures government mandates include: stay at home, mask wearing in public spaces, and social distancing in an attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic. The peak of school closures worldwide was in April of 2020 as reported by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the study estimated that, in March 2020, 165 countries closed all their schools due to Covid-19 affecting nearly 1 5 billion students and 63 million primary and secondary school teachers (2020a)

Countries all over the world shifted learning from classrooms to online depending on their capacity and infrastructure World Bank (2020) reported that all countries were able to deploy remote learning technologies using a combination of TV, Radio, Online and Mobile Platforms. Africa was hardest hit because there was no plan or preparation for such an emergency. Although innovative interventions were introduced for continuity of learning and to tackle uneven access to technology, digital tools, and internet connectivity, the extended school closures still caused learning loss. Sabates et al., (2021) estimated an average learning loss of around 66% for disadvantaged and out-of-school students in Ghana.

This paper examined the impact of the pandemic on primary and secondary education in Africa and explored innovative solutions that will lead to full recovery of lost learning and enhance preparedness of education response to crises for the future

Methodology

This paper reviews related articles, research, and reports that focus on the educational impact and implications of COVID-19, natural disaster contexts, and other contexts of war, violence, or other fragility.