Education access for the forcibly displaced: During and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Pandemic perspectives on schooling: Comparative studies on student and teacher experiences during COVID-19

Proposal

Introduction: During the past two years, academic literature has been heavily populated with studies documenting the socio-economic fallout of the pandemic, including its consequences for children in protection outcomes and learning losses. The temporary closure of schools is estimated to have impacted 9 out of 10 students globally (1.6 billion) (UNESCO, 2020a). The literature is unequivocal in its message: the impacts of the pandemic on education are massive from whichever angle they are explored, from access constraints to remote learning and learning outcomes. The literature also documents disproportionately larger impacts experienced by some of the most vulnerable learners, including children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds (Moscoviz & Evans, 2021; Patrinos et al., 2022). While it is well understood that vulnerable students suffered higher learning losses, the literature does not offer distinction on how particular groups of vulnerable learners, and the forcibly displaced specifically, have been affected by school closures associated to the pandemic.
Research questions: This research examines educational access before, during and in the aftermath of COVID-19 for forcibly displaced children under UNHCR’s protection mandate. In addition, the research documents good practices of measures taken during the pandemic to support continuity in learning for displaced and refugee children. The proposed overarching research questions are: Q1: What was the state of education access for forcibly displaced persons during school closures associated with COVID-19 as well as after schools reopened, and how do they compare with pre-pandemic levels of access? Q2. What are some promising practices that have emerged from the pandemic to ensure the continuity of learning and/or ensure that forcibly displaced children re-enroll in school?
Methods: The research brings together existing information and evidence on school closures with primary data from high-frequency phone surveys (HFPS) conducted by the World Bank, UNHCR and others over the course of the pandemic. As a starting point, a mapping exercise was undertaken to: (i) identify the countries where high-phone frequency surveys on forcibly displaced populations have been conducted by the World Bank and UNHCR, often with support from the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Centre on Forced Displacement; (ii) understand whether questions or items related to education were included in the surveys; (iii) identify in which waves of the survey education items were included; and (iv) identify education-specific questions within the different waves of the surveys.
A desk review of publications written using data from the HFPS was undertaken to identify whether any of these included findings related to education. Where there were findings related to education, the authors collated these findings and organized them into areas of analysis corresponding to the research questions of interest. Where education items were identified but no results have been made public and the data is available, descriptive statistics were used to generate new findings. Educational data on the forcibly displaced is considered for eight countries where HFPS were conducted with forcibly displaced populations: Bangladesh, Chad, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda. Where possible and where the data allow, results are presented for refugees and comparisons are made to host country populations.
To address the second research question on promising educational practices, the authors of this research brief reached out to UNHCR regional bureaus and country operations to inquire on the practices implemented to ensure learning continuity during the pandemic. Unfortunately, none of the practices have yet been rigorously evaluated. Where available, monitoring data provided by UNHCR operations is presented in this brief.
Findings:
Before: The findings from the surveys reveal that even prior to the pandemic and school closures, disparities in access to education between forcibly displaced and refugee children were already prevalent. In 5 countries, pre-pandemic education enrolment was higher for nationals in comparison to refugees. In Ethiopia, the rate of enrollment for refugees was 15, while for nationals it was 91%.
During: Participation by forcibly displaced children in some form of learning activities during school closures were as low as 10 percent in Iraq among households of internally displaced persons (IDP), and 24 percent among refugee households in Chad. In contrast, in Costa Rica and Mexico, engagement in learning activities by forcibly displaced children were as high as 90 percent.
The research looked at the type of learning activity that learners from displaced households engaged in during school closures. Based on four activities specified in the phone surveys, data available from five countries showed that children who were enrolled in school prior to the pandemic engaged in learning most frequently through sessions or meetings with teachers (46 percent), followed by mobile learning apps, educational TV programmes, and radio programmes (9 percent).
After: The sequencing of the phone surveys before, during and after school reopening speak to the challenges of returning to in-person instruction. In Costa Rica, high levels of pre-pandemic enrolment and fairly high levels of engagement during closures translated into high expected levels of retention among all groups of concern to UNHCR. In Chad, 90 percent of refugee households sent their children back to school when schools reopened, similar to the national return rate of 96 percent. However, results find that several refugee populations are at risk of delaying their return to school. In Mexico, there is evidence that one in four Honduran and Salvadorans households have at least one child no longer attending school. In Uganda, the share of refugee households with children returning to school is significantly lower in Kampala.

Author

• Cirenia Chavez Villegas, UNHCR