Using mobile phone innovations to support distance learning and the return to school for girls in Kenya

• In Event: How girls’ education can weather a pandemic: evidence from ten countries

Proposal

School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have a devastating impact on pupil learning in developing countries and could increase school dropout, especially among girls (Bandiera et al. 2018, Rafaeli & Hutchinson 2020, Slade, Piper & Kaunda 2017). Challenges such as learning loss and drop-out are particularly salient in Kenya where schools were closed in March 2020 in response to the pandemic and will only reopen in January 2021, affecting more than 90,000 schools and over 18 million students in pre-primary through high school. The pandemic’s impact on Kenya’s girl learners is expected to be pronounced, given both the country’s long out-of-school period, reported increases in violence against women and girls and teenage pregnancies, and expected increases of labor and domestic responsibilities for girls.

While the Kenyan government has quickly expanded its distance education program and now conveys educational content through TV, radio and internet, children’s engagement with these platforms is low and lack of access to remote learning remains a challenge in rural or particularly poor areas. The use of mobile phones has been identified as a promising area for innovation to reduce learning loss and avoid drop out. According to the latest Demographic and Health Survey (2014), only 67% of Kenyan households had a radio and 35% a TV, but 86% of households indicated that they had access to a mobile phone. Now, six years later, we suspect an even greater percentage of Kenyan households have access to a mobile phone, making phone-based interventions the most promising strategy for reaching the greatest number of children and closing some of the digital divide that has been a barrier to Kenya’s distance learning.

To respond to these challenges, researchers are evaluating a set of rapid low-cost mobile phone-based distance learning interventions in Kenya on engagement in educational activities, learning loss, and dropout rates, especially among girls, while schools are closed. These interventions will provide information and learning materials to households via mobile phones using a range of digital channels designed for simple phones and low levels of tech literacy, including SMS messages and automated voice calls. They will include educational materials, scheduling support and reminders, and encouragement interventions including parental goal-setting, soft commitments, and peer support interventions to keep children learning during school closures and enrolled to return to school once they reopen.

This presentation will discuss the impacts of these interventions on measures of parent and pupil effort, utilization of existing educational resources, pupil skills, and academic achievement. It will highlight the effects of certain approaches, such as encouraging peer to peer and sibling support, that could be especially important for girls, by focusing on positive relationships and encouraging girls to spend time in safe spaces. Finally, it will discuss the pathways to scale for this intervention and how the study could inform a longer-term trajectory for these interventions to support the return to school and children’s learning and reduce drop out rates even once schools are fully operational.

Author

• Sarah Kabay, Innovations for Poverty Action