Education Life of Children During COVID-19: Trends in Learning Loss, Digital Inclusion, Mental Health, and Child Labour

Abstract

The report discusses the major findings on the educational life of rural and urban slum-dwelling children in Bangladesh during COVID-19, based on two rounds of surveys in March and August 2021. The data was collected as part of a larger study that has been tracking the livelihoods of the citizens in rural and urban slums since the pandemic hit the country. The larger study is a collaborative effort between the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC). Poor quality of education was a grave concern in Bangladesh even before the pandemic, and the long school closure during COVID-19 has worsened the quality problems. Early into the pandemic, research by BIGD indicated the likelihood of significant learning losses due to schools closing. In this phase of the joint study by PPRC and BIGD, the authors examine the learning loss trend, the role of mother’s education in learning loss risk, digital inclusion in remote learning methods, the mental health of primary and secondary schoolchildren, and the indirect effects of the pandemic, such as the high incidence of child labour. Male students in secondary school were found to be at the highest risk of learning loss, possibly due to the livelihood pressure induced by the pandemic.