NEWS: MPs urged not to let learning crisis become a catastrophe
25.11.20 - Global Director for Education at the World Bank, Jaime Saavedra, presenting to IPNEd parliamentarians on the learning poverty indicator
On 25 November 2020, IPNEd member parliamentarians were joined by Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education at the World Bank, and Dr. Rukmini Banerji, Chief Executive Officer of the Pratham Educational Foundation, to consider strategies to mitigate the global learning crisis. The session was chaired by IPNEd member and former Education Minister in Zambia, Hon. Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa.
The session, on ‘preventing a learning crisis from becoming a catastrophe’, was the second in a series of briefings for MPs on COVID-19 and education, and provided member parliamentarians with the opportunity to compare approaches in their country with those across the world.
Mr. Saavedra and Dr. Banerji spoke with MPs on the importance of effective and context-specific learning interventions, and the monitoring of such approaches. Mr. Saavedra briefed parliamentarians on the mechanism developed by the World Bank to monitor global learning - the learning poverty indicator, and Dr. Banerji stressed the importance of meeting students at their level when schools reopen.
MPA Asia Salah Khattak, from the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, noted that the recent reintroduction of country-wide school closures in Pakistan will be a significant contributor to reduced learning outcomes for children across the country. Recognising the opportunities in remote learning to continue education whilst maintaining physical distance, she noted that equity gaps will further increase if efforts are not made to ensure all children have equal access to distance-learning resources including the internet.
Yasmin Ratansi MP, House of Commons of Canada, asked Mr. Saavedra and Dr. Banerji how the international community can ensure its support for eductaion is truly effective, supporting and scaling up evidence-based mechanisms such as those which Pratham undertakes. In their responses the speakers noted that, whilst the current outlook is not positive, parliamentarians in collaboration with civil society, ministries and governments can work to improve learning outcomes and prevent a learning crisis from becoming a catastrophe.
The briefing session can be watched here. For further information on IPNEd’s COVID-19 and education work, please contact the Secretariat at info@ipned.org.
