KIX Observatory

In education, assessment is an important tool for tracking the academic performance and learning progress of students. The assessment also helps determine the effectiveness of teaching and the various needs of an education system. Learning assessments provide schools and teachers with an understanding of what the students are learning, and how to adopt measures that promote effective teaching (Education Endowment Foundation, 2020; Liberman, Levin, & Luna-Bazaldua, 2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions to education in Africa and worldwide, and in African countries, due to school closures. Many countries have made great strides in ensuring safe reopening of schools to stem the erosion of the gains made in access to equitable and quality education, escalation of risks to children’s mental and physical health and the long-term impact of loss of learning associated with school closures. This policy brief highlights the evidence of the policy and practice responses on school reopening.

GPE partner countries in Africa have endured successive waves of COVID-19. After a first round of reopenings in 2020, several countries subsequently closed some or all schools for a second or third time, owing to a rapid rise in the number of cases. Full reopening of schools did not take place in most GPE countries until the first quarter of 2021.

This report synthesizes available evidence on the policies and practices of 40 African partner countries of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in responding to the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of school children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The synthesis was conducted using rapid scoping reviews, evidence mapping and the team’s expert knowledge of health and education issues in sub-Saharan Africa.