The learning losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years could cost $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in the present value of the current generation of students. A study report published jointly by the World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF projects that the impact caused by the pandemic could be more severe than previously estimated and exceeds the $10 trillion estimates released in 2020.
The report, ‘State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery’, estimated that in low- and middle-income countries where the share of children living in learning poverty was already at 53 per cent prior to the pandemic, the figure well might reach 70 per cent due to long school closures and the ineffectiveness of remote learning.
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Countries such as Brazil, rural India, Pakistan, Mexico, South Africa, among many others have shown substantial losses in math and reading. The data reveals that for some counties, the learning losses are proportional to the length of the school closure. However, there was also great heterogeneity across countries and by subject, students’ socioeconomic status, gender, and grade level.
Apart from a few exceptions, global data suggested that children from low-income households, children with disability and girls were likely to not have access to remote learning. This was due to the lack of accessible technologies and the availability of electricity, connectivity, and devices, as well as discrimination and gender norms.
Younger students, especially the ones who were among the preschool age or the initial development phase, were more affected by the learning losses when compared to older students. This was due to the unavailability and ineffectiveness of remote learning for the younger lot.
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The pandemic has been more damaging to the most marginalized and vulnerable sections, the report found. Learning losses were greater for students of lower socioeconomic status in countries like Ghana, Mexico, and Pakistan. The damage was far more for girls students as they are the first to lose the protection that schools and learning offer to their well-being and life chances.
Less than 3 per cent of governments’ stimulus package for the COVID-19 pandemic had been allotted to education. If the governments intended to reverse the learning loss impact, more investment in the sector was needed.
With a focus on reopening physical classes, the report advised governments to place Learning Recovery Programs with the objective of assuring that students of this generation attain at least the same competencies as the previous generation.
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