Inclusion and education

CHAPTER
9
COVID-19

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KEY MESSAGES
Despite strong government education response to COVID-19, many learners were left unassisted.
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Under unfamiliar and very challenging conditions, countries have responded with urgency. But access to 
online education was a challenge for the estimated 1 in 4 secondary school students in the region without a 
laptop and 1 in 10 without access to the internet.
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In some countries, the private sector supported access for poor students. Croatia’s education ministry 
partnered with telecommunication companies on free broadband and SIM cards.
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Data on actual non-participation are hard to come by and difficult to compare. During the first school closure 
in the Czech Republic, 16% of students in basic schools with primary and lower secondary levels were not 
involved in online learning.
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Even patchier data suggest the more vulnerable were less likely to continue learning. In Ukraine, just 1% of 
students but 20% of Roma students did not take part in remote learning.
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Some countries used traditional approaches. In rural Hungary, schools took homework to students’ homes 
once a week and collected it the following week. In Montenegro, schools provided printed homework 
materials for students lacking digital tools.
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Television programmes and video lessons targeted those hardest to reach. Uzbekistan ran video lessons on 
national television in Uzbek and Russian with sign language interpretation.
Teachers also need to learn how to use technology.
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Insufficient digital skills among teachers were a challenge. A study of about 1,000 primary school teachers in 
Poland found that 52% reported some difficulty using digital tools.
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Innovative solutions, such as teacher networks and collaboration with students, are needed, as otherwise 
only motivated or younger teachers tend to be involved in teacher training.
Flexible approaches to assessment try to take student needs into account.
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Many countries found flexible ways to evaluate learning. In Estonia, the grade 12 examination was voluntary, 
permitting students to graduate without it. In Kazakhstan, assignments and tasks for assessment were 
simplified and the number of tasks used for assessment reduced. As examinations in Kyrgyzstan were 
cancelled, a special committee determined the final score for every subject in each school.
Content needs to be adapted and attention given to socio-emotional well-being.
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Standard distance learning formats are geared towards motivated, already somewhat skilled and self-
sufficient learners. In North Macedonia, a dedicated platform was developed to provide online assistance to 
teachers and parents of students with special education needs.
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As home environments and parental support grew in significance during the remote learning period, those 
with a disadvantage risked falling further behind. In Ukraine, when boarding schools sent students home, 
social workers were instructed to maintain communication with parents or even visit to ensure that social 
support, food supply and other needs were met.
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Civil society has been active in drawing attention to student well-being and mental health. In the 
Czech Republic, there were indications that some students were left without pedagogical support, and that 
responsibility for the education continuity of students with special needs remained solely with parents.
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In Hungary, municipalities continued to deliver meals free of charge for some groups, such as children with 
disabilities, the poor and those from large families. In Tajikistan, the lack of school meal provision inevitably 
affected the most financially disadvantaged households despite joint action among the World Food 
Programme, local authorities and schools.
142
GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 2020

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Remote learning has to overcome obstacles to reach disadvantaged groups .....143
Teachers need to be a focus of support .............................................................................. 146
Flexible approaches to assessment try to take student needs into account ... 146
Content needs to be adapted and attention given to socio-emotional
well-being ............................................................................................................................................147
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 149
In the course of a few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic 
overwhelmed many national health systems. It led 
governments to impose partial or full lockdowns and curtail 
economic activity, threatening billions of livelihoods. One 
key measure to limit the risk of contagion was school and 
university closures. COVID-19 thus precipitated an education 
crisis, fuelled by the deep and multiple inequalities discussed 
in this report. While these inequalities have long existed, 
many were obscured in classrooms. Lockdowns and school 
closures suddenly brought them into sharp relief.
Under unfamiliar and very challenging conditions, countries 
in the region have responded with urgency, demonstrating 
commitment and resilience to continue provision through 
largely remote learning modalities. Yet education is not 
immune to the moral dilemmas other sectors have faced 
during this period. Millions of people had to make difficult 
decisions: Individuals had to decide whether to respect 
or evade quarantine restrictions, medical staff needed to 
choose among patients’ competing needs and authorities 
had to decide how to allocate economic support. 
The disruption of learning also confronted education 
policymakers with the ‘do no harm’ principle – the 
requirement that no plan or programme should be put in 
place if it might actively harm anyone at all. Unfortunately, 
just as countries look to the future to make an opportunity 
out of a crisis, it has become apparent that many of the 
attempted solutions risk leaving many children and young 
people further behind.
According to the second round of the UNESCO-UNICEF-
World Bank joint survey of ministries of education on 
national responses to COVID-19, carried out between 
July and September 2020, in which 23 countries from the 
region took part, a range of equity-oriented measures 
were taken. In particular, 76% provided support to learners 
with disabilities (e.g. sign language in online learning 
programmes) and 52% provided flexible and self-paced, 
asynchronous learning platforms. But a minority of 
countries supported access to infrastructure for learners 
in remote areas (43%), designed learning materials 
for speakers of minority languages (38%) or provided 
additional support to poorer households, including cash 
transfers (38%). 
While basically all responding countries took measures to 
minimize the impact of school closures on the well-being 
of students, relatively few countries did this following 
a system-wide approach. The preferred approach was 
psychosocial and mental health support to learners, for 
instance through online counselling, which two in three 
countries offered. For instance, 40% of countries offered 
support to make up for interrupted school meal services 
and only 25% expanded their child protection services. 
This chapter reviews how countries in the region have 
addressed issues of coverage, access to technology, digital 
skills, learner support and instructional practices, with 
special reference to groups at risk of exclusion.