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publicationJuly 19, 2023

Learning Recovery to Acceleration: A Global Update on Country Efforts to Improve Learning and Reduce Inequalities

school children playing report cover

The report,  examines what countries are doing to recover and accelerate learning, and how they are doing it, studying over 60 education systems. While many countries largely returned to ¡®business as usual¡¯ after the COVID-19 pandemic, others jumped into action¡ªimplementing comprehensive, multi-year strategies for improving learning and reducing inequalities.

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The COVID-19 pandemic brought about considerable disruption to schooling and learning and is likely to have a lasting and unequal impact on global learning levels. A takes stock of countries¡¯ efforts to overcome the disruption and long-lasting impacts on students. The report applies the RAPID Framework for learning recovery and acceleration (figure 1) to examine what countries are doing to recover and accelerate learning following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they are doing it.

The focus of the report is on primary and secondary education and on the responses employed once schools reopened after pandemic-related disruptions. The policy responses of 60 low- and middle-income countries are analyzed in the report, with 7 countries examined in further depth: Cambodia, Colombia, C?te, d¡¯Ivoire, India, Mongolia, , Zambia.

RAPID Framework to accelerate learning
Source: World Bank and others 2022b.

The  is a guide to tackle learning losses caused by the pandemic and build forward better that is based on five evidence-based policy actions:

Reach all children; Assess learning; Prioritize the fundamentals, Increase the efficiency of instruction, and Develop psychosocial health and wellbeing. (Read more, next tab)

The report finds that relatively few countries had implemented fully evidenced-based policy measures to address learning recovery and acceleration, while many had continued as before the pandemic. For example, less than a third of countries implemented some of the policy measures known to be most cost-effective in improving learning. However, some countries had notably invested in learning recovery and acceleration efforts that move them toward a new and improved status quo.

Some countries committed to recover and accelerate learning with comprehensive actions incorporating some or all the pillars of the RAPID framework. These countries are carrying out integrated policy packages, having fostered political commitment and public support behind a plan for learning recovery and acceleration that often considerably invested in implementation and management capacity. Additionally, countries with comprehensive packages for learning recovery and acceleration consulted widely to create a shared vision and aligned efforts that also iterated and adapted as they went along. However, the urgency of the learning crisis is not yet reflected in the actions of most countries around the world, as relatively few countries made comprehensive attempts to address the seriousness of the pandemic impacts. Only 1 in 5 had an explicit and comprehensive strategy or plan to recover and accelerate learning after reopening. 

By the numbers

  • Relatively few countries ¡ª only 1 in 5 ¡ª had an explicit and comprehensive strategy or plan to recover and accelerate learning after reopening.
  • Less than a third of countries implemented policy measures known to be cost-effective in improving learning.