Responding to the COVID-19: financing education in Africa during the pandemic

• In Event: Leaving no one behind: ensuring equitable finance for all children to learn

Proposal

This paper synthesizes available evidence on financing education during the COVID-19 pandemic in GPE partner countries in Africa. The paper adduces evidence on equity in financing and what education systems in these countries experienced due to the COVID-19-related learning disruptions and persistent funding constraints. In most GPE partner countries in Africa, financing education during the COVID-19 focused mainly on four key interrelated areas - distance learning solutions (DLS); capacity strengthening for teachers on the use of DLS, instructional delivery and remedial teaching; support to schools to comply with public health requirements including WASH; and, support to vulnerable populations.

Additionally, some countries invested in expanding infrastructure and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups. On the other hand, there were countries with inadequate resources for education during the crisis causing significant disruptions in education with potential long-term implications on equity in financing education. Such implications include the closure of low-fee private schools that serve low-income families, leading to learner displacement and a loss of employment for teachers.

Several financing challenges have been identified across countries, such as pre-existing funding for the education sector, over-reliance on external funding for emergency responses, budget reallocations to public health that led to cuts in education and other sectors, and other competing national priorities that impede education financing.

To address these challenges, the paper proposes several strategies that could enhance equity in education, especially to make financing more inclusive during emergencies such as COVID-19. Such strategies include allocating more domestic resources to create sustainability in financing during emergencies, deliberate on enhancing equity and inclusion in education financing and targeting remote areas during the rollout of education technology to minimize the digital divide between privileged and underprivileged populations. Other strategies for consideration by GPE partner countries include swapping external debts for equitable and inclusive investments in learning and improving the country’s human capacity to respond to emergencies.

Author

• Moses Ngware, African Population And Health Research Center