Long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Education provisioning: Evidence and Experiences from Africa

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

Proposal

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly brought about mixed experiences that provided both opportunities and challenges for learning, especially as pertains to preparations for current and future emergency situations. The education sector is a good example of a field that witnessed mixed experiences. For instance, the global education closures affected over 1.5 billion learners – from primary, secondary to tertiary levels, and resulted in massing learning losses – such losses varying by in-country contexts and dynamics (ADEA et al., 2022; Agbe, & Sefa-Nyarko, 2020). As a result, countries’ educational vulnerabilities were exposed, with dire situations witnessed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In the short-term period, during the COVID-19 period, the extended school closures exposed learners in LMICs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to teenage pregnancies, conflicts, and increased drop-outs These effects resulted in increased out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) in the region (SSA), and pose negative long-term consequences, especially on the human development index (Ashlee et al., 2020; Dhawan, 2020). From a different vantage point, while the school closures resulted in massive learning losses, it also enabled education stakeholders to take stock, think and adopt alternative learning approaches, using various technology enabled platforms for teaching and learning such (ADEA et al., 2022). While it is probable to account for the immediate or short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term impacts at country, regional and global level may only be speculative due to limitations in evidences and/or data to deduce such impacts. Presently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the grave inequalities in education, specifically the extent to which existing education systems in LMICs are inadequately prepared to adopt alternative teaching methods (Espino-Díaz et al., 2020; Zubillaga & Cortazar, 2020). The long-term impact of these challenges in the SSA countries’ education sector for purposes of devising approaches for building back better is worth considering. In light of the above background, a study that sought to understand the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 Global Partnership for Education (GPE) countries in SSA was undertaken. The 10 countries – Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, and Nigeria – were selected owing to existence of notable education responses/interventions adopted by the countries’ governments, together with other non-governmental partners.

Conceptual Framework

This paper’s hypothesis avers that during emergencies, responses and/or interventions adopted to mitigate or address the emerging challenges and/or opportunities play a crucial role in determining what the medium and long-term impacts of such emergencies will be. Economies that emphasizes provision of equitable and quality support services (e.g. in education), including put in place appropriate adequate resources – material, capital, and human – eventually achieve better (educational) outcomes in the immediate, medium, and long-term, emergency context notwithstanding. This position is consistent with the human rights approach/perspective/theory which emphasizes the right to equitable and quality education for all learners or individuals in emergencies, including those in conflict situations, pandemics, internally displaced populations, and/or refugees to help them address the problems inherent in such situations (Burde, 2005). In order to adopt resilient practices, including education systems, quality and adequate responses/interventions are needed to help communities in emergencies navigate the inherent challenges to mitigate potential long-term impacts while capitalizing on any arising opportunities. Thus, education in emergencies like in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic should ensure that education rights, and related rights through education are upheld if the highlighted education related challenges are to be addressed in the long-term. Additionally, it is imperative for stakeholders to understand the evidence needs in order to develop mechanisms for evidence gathering that will facilitate use of accurate data in data sharing, policy and decision making.

Research Questions

This paper seeks to answer the following research questions:

1. What support do the countries need to address the long-term impact of the COVID-19 on individual learners?
2. What evidence do the countries need to understand the long-term impact of the COVID-19 on individual learners?
3. What are the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 on the countries’ education sector?

Methodology

A case study design was adopted for this study, utilizing both secondary and primary data (qualitative data). Secondary data was obtained from literature review and related document analysis on study’s thematic area – long-term impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on education at the individual learner level as well as on the sector-wide level. In this exercise, the project team undertook a systematic scoping review approach to identify and explore the critical interventions/responses adopted by the study countries, and highlight the programmatic and contextual elements that contributed to the responses’ success and their potential for scalability. Primary data was gathered from key education stakeholders per country through key informant interviews, drawn from the respective Ministries of Education.

Preliminary Findings

Preliminary findings indicate that in the long-term, teaching and learning is likely to metamorphose even more, considering the ever-innovated and adopted alternative learning platforms, implying that adoption and adaptation of new learning approaches, including more blended learning approaches could be a long-term learning and teaching approach. However, learning inequality will be exacerbated owing to the extended school closures, compounded by the pervasive inequalities such as the digital divide where learners’ have limited access to alternative learning platforms. As pertains to evidence needs to understand long-term impacts, findings show that there is need for more data on key education areas to highlight and/or determine extent of need for appropriate action on building back better.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a mix of both positive and negative experiences, in which positives included increased innovation in the provisioning of education. Nevertheless, there are salient negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic that could potentially have negative long-term impacts on the education sector, especially for GPE partner countries. To mitigate and reverse such effects and impacts, GPE partner countries as well as other LMICs need to reconsider their recovery mechanisms and responses to ensure they adopt shock proof measures that are resilient and capable of withstanding future crises, and safeguard their education budgets to ensure that funds for responding to crisis are adequate and available when needed.

Authors

• Moses Ngware, African Population And Health Research Center

• Elisheba Wairimu Kiru, African Population and Health Research Center

• Brenda Aromu Wawire, African Population and Health Research Center