A collection of the World Bank’s blogs on Educatio n written during the first 100 days of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak

How countries across Latin America use technology during COVID19-driven school closures

CRISTOBAL COBO | ROBERT HAWKINS | HELENA ROVNER | | MARCH 31, 2020

Young students from the Dominican Republic.

Just like doctors and nurses in the health sector, educators are taking remarkable actions to support over 1.5 billion learners in over 160 countries whose schools have closed. With no precedent for such large-scale interruption, education leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries are learning from the region’s extensive experience in mass media education broadcasting. The World Bank organized a broad consultation recently to learn from this rich tradition and support LAC countries in responding to the current education crisis. Countries are adapting innovative and flexible ways during this crisis. They are incorporating different channels and media to facilitate teaching and learning. All participant countries implemented a national repository of digital resources (and offline learning materials when possible) and/or a learning management system (LMS) where students connect with their teachers. WhatsApp, phone or social media was adopted to provide pedagogical guidance and support for teachers and parents. However, since the Internet is not accessible for all, the use of educational radio and TV still plays a relevant role. Below more examples of the initiatives and programs that Latin American countries are activating in response to the crisis.

Figure 3. Effective Professional Resources for Teachers to Learn How to Use Digital Devices are Available

Percentage of 15-year-old students whose school principal agreed or strongly agreed

Conclusion: Digital gaps in education are important to address in response to COVID-19 and future crises

When it comes to education inequalities, the digital paradox is inescapable. In most of the 82 education systems participating in PISA, there is a positive correlation between the three variables described above and student socioeconomic status (a positive and statistically significant correlation is found in 46, 47 and 56 countries for each of the three variables described respectively). Thus, during COVID-19 and any future need for intermittent school closures, digital learning has the potential both to avoid widening learning inequalities and, paradoxically, to exacerbate them. The good news is that most school principals are quite confident about the pedagogical skills of their teachers and the availability of resources to help them use digital learning while students remain at home. It is critical now to ensure universal access to the Internet, as this can enable schools to use EdTech effectively, in age-appropriate ways, as part of their regular instruction. The aim is a smooth transition to distance learning, to allow continuity of learning during any future disruption in school operations.

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Supporting the youngest learners and their families in the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) response

AMANDA DEVERCELLI | APRIL 16, 2020

As we mobilize, the needs of young children must be a priority. Under-investing in early childhood now would be a mistake

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to school closures in nearly every country in the world, putting approximately 1.5 billion children and youth out of school. For many countries, a learning crisis existed before the coronavirus pandemic, with an estimated 260 million children out of school, and 53% of ten-year-olds who are in school in low- and middle-income countries living in learning poverty, unable to read and understand a simple text. The world can ill-afford further deterioration of children’s learning. Governments are springing to action to roll out remote learning through various channels to try and reach children at home and at the World Bank, we are working closely with our government counterparts to make smart investments to support children’s learning in new and innovative ways. This time- while full of immense challenges- also offers us some opportunities. And one opportunity is to expand access to early learning. Around the world, only about half of children are enrolled in preschool and in low-income countries it is just 21%. This is an enormous missed opportunity, given what we know about how important access to quality early learning can be to set young children on a brighter path to lifelong learning. As ministries of education work to expand access to learning through a variety of different methods, we need to ensure that early childhood education is included within these efforts.

Protecting education finance from COVID-19’s triple funding shock

SAMER AL-SAMARRAI | MAY 12, 2020

Man with mask in market

Picking up the newspaper in recent weeks would have been difficult if you were an education minister. Not only would you have been scrambling to organize learning during school closures, but the funds to do it seemed to be under threat. In many countries, media reports suggest the slashing of education budgets to make room for emergency spending on the coronavirus (COVID-19) response. The effects of the pandemic on government education budgets, while important, are not the only funding worries for ministers. Education systems face a triple funding shock, with COVID-19 expected to put significant strains on household and donor funding that will only add to its effects on government funding. In our recent note, we look at the funding outlook over the next two years and examine the options countries have to fund education while coping with the health and economic shocks of COVID-19.

The outlook is uncertain, but forecasts show that government spending on education is likely to suffer as a consequence of the pandemic. Using IMF projections of economic growth and government spending, we have looked at the potential impact on education budgets. We focus on projecting spending per school-aged child, which provides a more useful picture than total spending on how the changes might affect education access and quality. Our most optimistic scenario shows that the pandemic could reduce planned increases in education spending in 2020 versus projections prior to the crisis. But our more pessimistic forecasts show that per-