Socioeconomic gradients in exposure to school disruptions and their developental implications in low- and middle-income countries

• In Event: Disrupted Schooling and Its Consequences for Students and Societies

Proposal

School disruptions such as those due to natural disasters, teacher strikes, or man-made crises could have profound impacts on children’s learning, emotional well-being, and behavioral development. While extensive research has examined the effects of systematic school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, less attention has been given to the socioeconomic predictors of school disruptions and their implications for child outcomes in non-pandemic contexts. We address this gap by analyzing data from eight countries in the sixth round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS6), spanning 2017 to 2022, with a total sample of 66,906 children. Using country-fixed effects regression models, we investigate a) socioeconomic stratification in exposure to school disruption in different forms, and b) whether forms of school disruption are associated with learning difficulties, depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems, and c) whether these associations show socioeconomic gradients. Early findings suggest that teacher strikes and man-made crises disproportionately impact poorer and rural children, whereas natural disasters exhibit a weaker but still significant socioeconomic gradient. Teacher strikes have the strongest negative associations with learning outcomes, man-made crises are most negatively associated with mental health, and natural disasters are associated with negative outcomes across all domains. In next steps, we will analyse the heterogeneity of disruption-development associations with respect to socioeconomic status. Early results point to the disequalizing nature of exposure to educational disruptions.

Authors

• Mohamad Al Abbas

• Emily Hannum, University of Pennsylvania