## Education Pandemic ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Education Pandemic](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Authors: Yamini Aiyar - Published: March 1, 2022 --- ### Overview - 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. ### Digital divide - 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. ### Educational value and learning losses - ASER findings (selected rural areas): - 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. - 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. - Basic arithmetic: 17.3 percent of students could do simple subtraction in 2020, compared with 26.3 percent in 2018. - 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: - 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. - 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. ### Learning investment and policy recommendations - Reopening schools presents an opportunity to bridge two years of learning losses but will require significant financial resources for: - Physical classrooms - Teaching materials - Teachers and remedial instruction - Pedagogical change recommended: - Shift focus from syllabus completion and curriculum standards to foundational literacy and numeracy and actual learning outcomes. - Measure learning losses and provide remedial teaching before students progress to the next grade. - Fiscal context and urgency: - Spending demands are rising at a time when countries plan to scale down pandemic-induced expenditure and reimpose fiscal discipline. - 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. - 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. ### Key statistics (exact figures from the text) - 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) *Source: Education Pandemic, Yamini Aiyar, F&D Magazine, March 2022.* --- ## Content in this bundle - **The Education Pandemic** - [The Education Pandemic (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/aiyar.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [The Education Pandemic (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/aiyar.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم** - [وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ar/aiyar.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [وجهة نظر - جائحة التعليم (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ar/aiyar.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Une pandémie de déscolarisation ?** - [Une pandémie de déscolarisation ? (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/fr/aiyar.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Une pandémie de déscolarisation ? (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/fr/aiyar.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года** - [Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ru/aiyar-new.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Образовательная пандемия – Финансы и развитие – Переосмысление бюджетных основ – март 2022 года (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ru/aiyar-new.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022** - [La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/sp/aiyar-032822.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [La pandemia educativa ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/sp/aiyar-032822.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **教育与疫情的双重危机** - [教育与疫情的双重危机 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/zh/aiyar.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [教育与疫情的双重危机 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/zh/aiyar.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/education-pandemic-aiyar_