How many students could continue learning during COVID-19-caused school closures? Introducing a new reachability indicator for measuring equity of remote learning.

This paper proposes a new reachability indicator to analyze the effectiveness of remote learning policies adopted by ministries of education in response to school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The indicator provides the share of students that can potentially be reached by remote learning policies given the availability of necessary household assets such as radios, televisions, computers and internet access. The results of this analysis outline the stark inequities in access to remote learning, suggesting that at a minimum, more than 30 % of schoolchildren globally cannot be reached by remote learning policies due to the high variation in access to assets for remote learning that exists within and between the world regions. The analysis finds that wealth and area of residence are key factors affecting the reachability of remote learning policies, suggesting that children who reside in rural areas and/or belong to the poorest households in their country are at the greatest risk of being left behind.

Potential effects of COVID-19 school closures on foundational skills and Country responses for mitigating learning loss.

This article investigates to what extent disrupted schooling and dropout affects children's acquisition of foundational skills prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using household survey data from thirteen low- and lower-middle-income countries, we find that missing or dropping out of school is associated with lower reading and numeracy outcomes. Drawing on global surveys conducted during the pandemic, we find that countries' remote learning responses are often inadequate to keep all children learning, avoid dropout, and mitigate the learning losses our findings predict, particularly for marginalized children and those at the pre-primary level.

Education response to COVID 19 pandemic, a special issue proposed by UNICEF: Editorial review.

This editorial paper presents 11 papers related to the special issue proposed by UNICEF on the Education Response to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic provoked an education emergency of unprecedented scale. At its onset in February 2020, school closures were announced in the worst-hit countries. At the peak of the crisis, 90 per cent of learners worldwide had had their education disrupted. Some learners, especially those from the most marginalised population groups, were put at risk of permanent dropout, provoking long-term and significant negative effects on children's life-long wellbeing and the socio-economic development of their communities and countries. This special issue, which received contributions from UNICEF staff and various researchers, focuses on the impact of school closures, the effectiveness of remote learning solutions, equity implications, the mitigation of learning loss and notions around re-opening better. Different research perspectives and evidence is gathered to help strengthen policy considerations and future planning. The conclusion emphasizes building on the innovative solutions generated by the response to the crisis to make education systems more resilient, whilst also reinforcing the focus on equity and inclusion so that pre-existing disparities are not exacerbated in the future.

Dissecting the digital divide: A household fixed effects approach to estimating gender gaps in digital skills of youth in low- and middle-income economies.

This study investigates gender gaps in digital skills among youth (15-24 years old) in 32 low- and middle-income economies using data from UNICEF-supported and internationally comparable Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). Utilizing a household fixed effects approach, we aim to isolate gender-based disparities from household-level variations. The intra-household analysis reveals significant inequalities, with biases against young women in possessing digital skills, including the very basic ones. Supplementary analysis using a mixed-effects model, which accounts separately for within- and between-household variation, highlights that wealthier households exhibit larger gender gaps in digital skills, disadvantaging young women primarily due to a floor effect in the poorest households. The paper concludes with policy implications aimed at reducing gender gaps in digital skills.