{
  "title": "Education Pandemic",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar",
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  "summary": "MY CHILDREN LAST entered their school gates on March 10, 2020, weeks before India’s national lockdown was an-nounced. Two years on, schools in much of the country remain closed.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- First-person account: author’s children last entered school gates on March 10, 2020, weeks before India’s national lockdown was announced; two years on, schools in much of the country remain closed.\n- Schools often reopened partially in 2021—limiting attendance to higher grades and only half the student body on a given day—and were typically the first institutions to close when COVID-19 cases surged.\n- The physical classroom has been largely replaced by remote learning (the \"Zoom room\"), with visible emotional, developmental, and learning costs."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Digital divide",
      "content": "- A September 2021 survey of 1,400 schoolchildren from disadvantaged homes across 15 states found that just 8 percent of children in rural areas and 24 percent in urban areas had access to regular online education.\n- School closures affected 1.6 billion children globally.\n- In parts of South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, schools have been fully closed for over 80 weeks; Uganda reopened schools in January 2022 after 82 weeks of partial or full closure.\n- A 2021 ADB study (using International Telecommunication Union data) estimates that only 41 percent of households in Asia’s lower-middle income economies have internet access.\n- In West and Central Africa, broadcast media substituted for classrooms, but only 26 percent of households in rural areas owned a television.\n- In India, remote learning mostly uses mobile phones; a 2021 ASER survey shows that only 68 percent of households with primary-school-age children in rural India owned smartphones, and of those, only a quarter of students had access to these phones—leaving many with nearly two years of no schooling."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Educational value and learning losses",
      "content": "- ASER findings (selected rural areas):\n  - In Chhattisgarh, after schools reopened in August 2021, the ability of Standards 3 and 5 students to read a basic Standard 2 textbook declined by over 15 percentage points.\n  - In rural Karnataka, the share of Standard 3 students at grade level fell from 19.2 percent in 2018 to 9.8 percent in 2020.\n  - Basic arithmetic: 17.3 percent of students could do simple subtraction in 2020, compared with 26.3 percent in 2018.\n- ADB estimate (April 2021): students in South Asia lost about 0.55 learning-adjusted years of schooling; Pacific region students lost 0.08 learning-adjusted years.\n- Long-term productivity costs:\n  - Study of Pakistani students affected by 14 weeks of lost schooling after the 2005 earthquake estimates lifetime earnings losses of 15 percent for those children.\n  - ADB projects losses to future productivity and lifetime earnings for affected students could be $1.25 trillion for developing Asia, equivalent to 5.4 percent of the region’s 2020 GDP."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Learning investment and policy recommendations",
      "content": "- Reopening schools presents an opportunity to bridge two years of learning losses but will require significant financial resources for:\n  - Physical classrooms\n  - Teaching materials\n  - Teachers and remedial instruction\n- Pedagogical change recommended:\n  - Shift focus from syllabus completion and curriculum standards to foundational literacy and numeracy and actual learning outcomes.\n  - Measure learning losses and provide remedial teaching before students progress to the next grade.\n- Fiscal context and urgency:\n  - Spending demands are rising at a time when countries plan to scale down pandemic-induced expenditure and reimpose fiscal discipline.\n  - India announced its annual budget for 2022–23 on February 1 and intends to cut public expenditure by 2.5 percent of GDP from 2020–21 in the new fiscal year.\n  - Education budgets, slashed at the peak of the pandemic, have not been increased; the author argues this reluctance to spend on education is shortsighted given long-term costs."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key statistics (exact figures from the text)",
      "content": "- March 10, 2020 (date children last entered school gates)\n- Survey sample: 1,400 schoolchildren across 15 states\n- Online education access: 8 percent (rural), 24 percent (urban)\n- Global affected children: 1.6 billion\n- Regions with closures: over 80 weeks in parts of South Asia, Latin America, and Africa\n- Uganda: 82 weeks of partial or full closure\n- Internet access in Asia’s lower-middle income economies: 41 percent\n- Television ownership in rural West and Central Africa: 26 percent\n- Smartphone ownership in rural India households with primary-school-age children: 68 percent; of those, one quarter of students had access\n- Chhattisgarh: decline in reading ability of Standards 3 and 5 by over 15 percentage points\n- Rural Karnataka Standard 3 at grade level: 19.2 percent (2018) to 9.8 percent (2020)\n- Simple subtraction ability: 26.3 percent (2018) to 17.3 percent (2020)\n- Learning-adjusted years lost (ADB, April 2021): 0.55 (South Asia), 0.08 (Pacific)\n- Lifetime earnings loss estimated from Pakistan earthquake study: 15 percent\n- Projected losses to future productivity and lifetime earnings (ADB): $1.25 trillion; equivalent to 5.4 percent of developing Asia’s 2020 GDP\n- India budget measure: cut public expenditure by 2.5 percent of GDP from 2020–21 (announced February 1, 2022)\n\nSource: Education Pandemic, Yamini Aiyar, F&D Magazine, March 2022.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- The Education Pandemic\n  - The Education Pandemic (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - The Education Pandemic (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم\n  - وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Une pandémie de déscolarisation ?\n  - Une pandémie de déscolarisation ? (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Une pandémie de déscolarisation ? (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года\n  - Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022\n  - La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 教育与疫情的双重危机\n  - 教育与疫情的双重危机 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - 教育与疫情的双重危机 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar"
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    "Authors: Yamini Aiyar",
    "Published: March 1, 2022",
    "First-person account: author’s children last entered school gates on March 10, 2020, weeks before India’s national lockdown was announced; two years on, schools in much of the country remain closed.",
    "Schools often reopened partially in 2021—limiting attendance to higher grades and only half the student body on a given day—and were typically the first institutions to close when COVID-19 cases surged.",
    "The physical classroom has been largely replaced by remote learning (the \"Zoom room\"), with visible emotional, developmental, and learning costs.",
    "A September 2021 survey of 1,400 schoolchildren from disadvantaged homes across 15 states found that just 8 percent of children in rural areas and 24 percent in urban areas had access to regular online education.",
    "School closures affected 1.6 billion children globally.",
    "In parts of South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, schools have been fully closed for over 80 weeks; Uganda reopened schools in January 2022 after 82 weeks of partial or full closure.",
    "A 2021 ADB study (using International Telecommunication Union data) estimates that only 41 percent of households in Asia’s lower-middle income economies have internet access.",
    "In West and Central Africa, broadcast media substituted for classrooms, but only 26 percent of households in rural areas owned a television.",
    "In India, remote learning mostly uses mobile phones; a 2021 ASER survey shows that only 68 percent of households with primary-school-age children in rural India owned smartphones, and of those, only a quarter of students had access to these phones—leaving many with nearly two years of no schooling.",
    "ASER findings (selected rural areas):",
    "ADB estimate (April 2021): students in South Asia lost about 0.55 learning-adjusted years of schooling; Pacific region students lost 0.08 learning-adjusted years.",
    "Long-term productivity costs:",
    "Reopening schools presents an opportunity to bridge two years of learning losses but will require significant financial resources for:",
    "Pedagogical change recommended:",
    "Fiscal context and urgency:",
    "March 10, 2020 (date children last entered school gates)",
    "Survey sample: 1,400 schoolchildren across 15 states",
    "Online education access: 8 percent (rural), 24 percent (urban)",
    "Global affected children: 1.6 billion",
    "Regions with closures: over 80 weeks in parts of South Asia, Latin America, and Africa",
    "Uganda: 82 weeks of partial or full closure",
    "Internet access in Asia’s lower-middle income economies: 41 percent",
    "Television ownership in rural West and Central Africa: 26 percent",
    "Smartphone ownership in rural India households with primary-school-age children: 68 percent; of those, one quarter of students had access",
    "Chhattisgarh: decline in reading ability of Standards 3 and 5 by over 15 percentage points",
    "Rural Karnataka Standard 3 at grade level: 19.2 percent (2018) to 9.8 percent (2020)",
    "Simple subtraction ability: 26.3 percent (2018) to 17.3 percent (2020)",
    "Learning-adjusted years lost (ADB, April 2021): 0.55 (South Asia), 0.08 (Pacific)",
    "Lifetime earnings loss estimated from Pakistan earthquake study: 15 percent",
    "Projected losses to future productivity and lifetime earnings (ADB): $1.25 trillion; equivalent to 5.4 percent of developing Asia’s 2020 GDP",
    "India budget measure: cut public expenditure by 2.5 percent of GDP from 2020–21 (announced February 1, 2022)",
    "**The Education Pandemic**",
    "**وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم**",
    "**Une pandémie de déscolarisation ?**",
    "**Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года**",
    "**La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022**",
    "**教育与疫情的双重危机**"
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