The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an education emergency of unprecedented scale. In a very short time after the pandemic began, schools were closed and remained so for weeks, months or in some cases, years. At the peak of school closures, 1.6 billion children were affected.

The evidence is still mixed as to whether school closures helped reduce virus transmission. There is, however, ample evidence of the harmful effects that extended school closures had on the learning and wellbeing of children (for example, see this study).

Disruption to education systems happens often due to conflict, disease outbreaks, disasters and climate change. As governments contemplate their responses to these disruptions, there’s a lot to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, GPE hosted an event to take stock with a diverse set of partners on what we’ve learned over the past 4 years about continuing education for all children during times of hardship and uncertainty. The event also drew upon evaluation findings of GPE’s US$500 million portfolio of support to partner countries’ COVID-19 responses. You can learn more about that support and country examples here.

We share here the learning event’s core reflections on how these lessons can inform our collective efforts going forward:

Reaching the most marginalized first

Learning losses were greater for marginalized children, including children from low-income households, children with disabilities and girls. Interventions accessible to only a few widened pre-existing inequalities, with younger children often left without options for learning remotely.

When designing distance learning strategies, it’s essential to first consider access for the most marginalized children and to give extra attention to the youngest learners. In Rwanda, vulnerable families that may have missed out on distance learning were provided mobile phones and solar-powered radios.

For children with disabilities, involving parents and caregivers when designing distance learning strategies was critical. Positive and continual interactions with parents and caregivers helped children with disabilities learn social-emotional skills—essential components of a quality education.

Community-based projects also increased educational access for girls, focused on those most at risk of dropping out.

School feeding was essential to ensure continued learning access for children, especially vulnerable children such as those living in rural areas. School closures demonstrated that schools play a critical role beyond education, including for the provision of school-based services like health and nutrition.

High-tech isn’t always the best

Distance learning became a necessity for the continuity of learning during school closures. No matter what we call it, distance learning is here to stay, offering an opportunity for both times of crisis and normalcy.

Albert Nsengiyumva, the executive secretary at the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, highlighted that mobile phones were an underutilized modality for education during the pandemic.

If adaptive to changing times, context and student needs, distance learning can boost learning. But distance education solutions need to be multimodal, with a deep understanding of and planning for how different learning modes interact with each other. Notably, the highest tech solution for distance learning rarely equates to the best one.

Bangladesh delivered a successful accelerated learning program where paper-based materials were the main mode of learning, accompanied by periodic mobile phone check-ins to ensure both learning and students’ social-emotional wellbeing.

Teachers need to be included in education sector dialogue

No matter the technology, teachers are always at the center of education. Teacher resilience during the pandemic was praised, highlighting the innovations they developed for their students with little to no support and paying respect to the countless teachers who, as front-line workers, died after contracting COVID-19.

While access to education infrastructure, connectivity and content was needed throughout the pandemic, all of this meant nothing without ensuring teachers had the capacity and skills to use them, and to adapt and serve as leaders.

Sisera Simon, Head of the Human & Social Division at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), shared how teachers in OECS countries stepped up as leaders and innovated before any interventions were in place, gravitating towards digital communication tools and applications to connect with students, parents and caregivers. The government then used this knowledge to create distance education plans that teachers could successfully implement.

The resilience of teachers is something to build on for the future. The leadership teachers showed throughout the pandemic further reinforces that teachers’ voices need to be heard.

It is clear teachers need to be protected and included as crucial partners in education sector dialogue.

Prepare to adapt programming

Throughout the pandemic, the education sector needed to navigate the continuously evolving health context and policy alongside concurrent developments in the evidence about effective approaches to continued learning and wellbeing.

In Somalia, the education sector had experience with adaptive programming from times of conflict and instability. When programming COVID-19 responses, partners knew to keep it simple, plan to continuously adapt and remain flexible. For example, the COVID-19 response involved quickly pivoting toward printed materials, prerecorded radio lessons and mobile phone check-ins to keep children learning.

In The Gambia, one of the factors that allowed adaptive programming was the use of multisectoral high-frequency phone surveys which gathered real-time evidence on learning and access to inform distance learning strategies.

Looking back to think forward

Looking back on the past 4 years, what’s clear is that working on just one part of the system is insufficient to ensure resilience.

Response planning needs to be coupled with finance, technology with teachers who are able to use it, and learning materials with consideration of the specific needs of children.

Strong relationships—between children and teachers, teachers and their support structures, central level administrators and those closer to communities, and different ministries concerned with children—allow education systems to mitigate the worst impacts of crises on children and, in ideal scenarios, ensure that learning continues.

We need to recognize the value of building partnerships across sectors, including between public and private. For example, governments across Sub-Saharan Africa are partnering with mobile phone providers to expand access to education.

Crisis-sensitive planning and contingency planning are also critical to prepare for and quickly respond to different disruptions. Such plans are opportunities to institutionalize lessons from pandemic responses that can be applied to other crises, in terms of what countries would or wouldn't do again.

Lastly, planning wouldn’t be possible without evidence. We have plenty to capitalize on from pandemic responses, including on the importance of designing interventions to reach the most marginalized first.

Local evidence and applied research will continue to play an important role in fostering resilience and a culture of evidence-based decision-making so that all children keep learning during future crises.