Page 8 - PDPOINTER092021

PD Pointer Volume 63 Page 8

How African countries can reform education

to get ahead after pandemic school closures

Noam Angrist
Executive Director, Young 1ove, Fellow, University of
Oxford. Young 1ove is an NGO which has supported
the government of Botswana to enact reforms men-
tioned in this article.

he COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a his-
toric shock to education, shuttering schools for
over 1.6 billion children worldwide.
Thi
T s shock will worsen a pre-existing “learning
crisis” in which many students in school were learning
very little.
The World Bank estimates that the percentage of chil-
dren who are unable to read a simple sentence by age This article
10 could rise from 53% before the pandemic to is repub-
63% as a result of school closures.
These learning losses could stem from a combination lished
of things: forgetting what was previously known, and from The
missing what would have been learned if schools Conversa-
hadn’t been closed. tion under a
These learning losses can accumulate in the long run. Creative
Students who re-enter school far behind the curricu- Commons
lum expectations might be too far behind to learn any-
thing from daily instruction and fall even further be- license.
hind.
In a new paper, we looked at how much learning loss learning losses. More strikingly, ambitious reforms is available yet, early data suggest learning levels are
might be experienced in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Tan- linked to these strategies, such as aligning instruction improving faster than in other regions.
zania and Uganda as a result of school closures in the with children’s learning levels on a long-term basis, Madagascar provides another example. The govern-
pandemic. We used data from early grade reading can not only mitigate all learning losses, but also im- ment has strengthened the national catch-up pro-
assessments in these countries. prove on pre-COVID-19 learning levels. gramme, called CRAN, which prior to the pandemic
Our model suggests there could be up to a year’s had been providing a two-month intensive learning
worth of learning loss in the short run. Our estimates Signs of progress period to children targeted to their level.
suggest learning losses will be distributed unequally, By the end of 2018, CRAN had been implemented
with students who started at lower learning levels fall- In our study we describe a few examples of countries with UNICEF support in seven out of 22 regions of
ing the farthest behind. which are starting to enact such reforms, including Madagascar.
We estimate that these short-term learning deficits Botswana and Madagascar. In late 2020, in response to COVID-19 school clo-
could accumulate to 2.8 years of lost learning in the In Botswana’s second largest region, the North-East, sures, this approach was accelerated. Although the
long run. This is if the curriculum – often overambi- the Ministry of Basic Education’s regional director government and UNICEF are in the early stages of
tious and not aligned to students’ learning levels – is called for all schools to conduct simple formative as- this work, it shows how governments can strengthen
not adjusted to allow students to catch up. sessments and implement targeted instruction imme- existing programmes to shift teaching and learning
diately as schools reopened in June 2020 following practices.
Opportunity for reform the first wave of COVID-19 induced school closures. These reform efforts are promising. Yet, too few coun-
The region updated staff’s roles and responsibilities to tries have taken bold steps to date. Without urgent
But that doesn’t have to be the outcome. formalise this expectation. action, short-term learning losses could stunt the next
While COVID-19 has held back learning, bold reform Training sessions were held with support from one of generation of students for a lifetime, with potential in-
is possible and the pandemic presents a historic op- the largest youth-serving NGOs in the country, Young tergenerational consequences. COVID-19 presents a
portunity to revamp education systems. It could be a 1ove, in partnership with USAID and UNICEF. need to act urgently and an opportunity to think differ-
time to institute practices and policies that have been The ministry expected frequent reporting on progress, ently.
needed to address the underlying learning crisis for and the regional director visited schools directly to Perhaps some education systems will reform to
decades. monitor implementation. Although no causal evidence achieve the long sought-after goal of learning for all.
Our review of the literature identified two strategies
which could help to mitigate learning losses and im-
prove learning even beyond pre-COVID-19 levels.
This review builds on a growing evidence base of in-
terventions that have worked at scale in low- and mid- Edutel: changing traditional ideas
dle-income countries to improve basic numeracy and
literacy skills.
The first strategy is to target instruction to a child’s
learning level. This can be achieved at little cost by Edutel’s vision to make education truly accessible… to de-
testing the child’s knowledge during the learning pro- bunk the notion that education belongs in an ivory tower, is
cess – known as formative assessment – and a menu fast changing traditional ideas about education, and, more
of activities tailored to each child’s level. This has specifically, the ways in which people from all walks of life can
more potential than teaching prescriptive one-size-fits- now engage in every aspect of lifelong learning at its very
all syllabi. best.
The second strategy is to introduce structured peda- Edutel is the embodiment of sound educational design and
gogy programmes, which combine structured lesson planning, the integration of both practical and intellectual
plans, teacher coaching and instructional support. minds, and, moreover, the exemplification of real collabora-
Many teachers in the status quo are often left to fend tion.
for themselves and write their own daily lesson plans. Edutel collaborates with a variety of formal and non-formal
By providing some structure and ongoing support, big educational institutions, empowering students with sound ad-
learning gains are possible. vice, training and, increasingly, the facilitation of training.
Both approaches in past reviews have been found Central to Edutel’s vision and mission of greater educational
to improve learning by three years of high-quality access, is the notion that all learning should be skills-based,
schooling gained per US$100. These learning gains outcomes-based, or, if you like, purpose-based… clearly de-
are nearly equivalent to the system-level education fined in terms of the learner's profile, his/her weaknesses and
gap between Zambia, one of the lowest performers in strengths, and the most effective ways in which life-long
sub-Saharan Africa, and Kenya, one of the highest learning could facilitate a more complete individual and, in
performers. fact, an able and productive contributor to the South African
Our model suggests that short-term remediation economy. - Andries Pelser, Edutel CEO.
through these strategies can make a sizeable dent in

Edutel Durban 5th Floor Tel. No: +27 (31) 305 2850
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