COVID-19

Global school closures, deployed to curb the spread of COVID-19, have affected educational systems worldwide, threatening the disruption of the strides made in attainment of quality and equitable education, especially on the African continent. While governments established several interventions to mitigate the short-term consequences of COVID-19, little is known about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on education, particularly from the perspectives of national education stakeholders.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to education in African countries. In response, researchers have mobilized to produce actionable evidence that supports system recovery and resilience. What can this experience teach us about the ability of education systems to absorb the shock of a crisis?

In education management, assessment helps to determine the effectiveness of teaching and the various needs of an education system. However, the COVID-19 restrictions, and school closures that followed, complicated the use of traditional in-person or in-class learning assessment approaches.

Interventions that are likely to be impactful are those that are anchored on sound policies and strategies, are well-planned and resourced, are efficiently executed, and are effectively monitored and evaluated. This presupposes a ‘normal environment’ yet these conditions are hardly met fully during ‘normal times’ when it comes to Africa. And so, we find instances of glaring gaps between policy pronouncements and practice responses, with resources neither adequate nor targeted appropriately to fully implement programmes.