The Impact of covid-19 on Education Outcomes Caused by Learning Losses Prof. Okila Elboeva

The Impact of COVID-19 on Education Outcomes Caused by Learning Losses Prof. Okila Elboeva

IV Traditional International and Scientific and Practical Online Conference

Tashkent State University of Economics – May, 2021

Human capital and development

• Nations with better human capital:
• Workforce is more productive
• Workforce is more adaptive to economic changes
• Economic development is higher
• Higher human capital is not possible without good education system!

Covid-19 pandemic effects

• School closures aimed at containing the spread of of Covid-19 have interrupted conventional schooling

Source: (OECD/ Global Education Innovation Initiative, Harvard University, 2020[5]) Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard and OECD Rapid Assessment of COVID-19 Education Response.

Figure 1. Days of schooling lost by May 2020

Opportunity gaps due to covid-19

• Education losses appear to be much higher among students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds
• To continue to learn remotely students have to rely on their own resources
• The remote learning education added a class- and income based disparity on education opportunity:
• Digital divide – some students do not have an adequate access to internet or they do not have technology, additional tools to continue their education

Notes: Poor students are students eligible for the federal free or reduced-price lunch programs. Non-poor students are students who are ineligible for those programs. Frequent use of internet at home for homework means every day or almost every day. Students’ teachers were either “already proficient” in, “have not” received training in, or “had received training” in “software applications” and “integrating computers into instruction” in the last two years.

Source: 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), eighth-grade reading sample microdata from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Chart adapted from Figure D in García, Weiss, and Engdahl 2020.

 

Figure 2. Share of eighth-graders with access to online learning, by income level and tool, 2017

Economic impacts of covid-19

• In the short-run:
• impacts on unemployment
• consumer spending
• business revenues
• In the long-run:
• income losses for students, who have been affected by Covid-19
• higher inequality
• slower economic growth

Have not received the same policy considerations!

Economic impacts of covid-19

• Income losses for students, who have been affected by Covid-19
• Education allows to develop skills and knowledge
• Makes them more productive

There is a strong correlation between education and income earned in labor market

Source: Hanushek, E and L. Woessmann (2020), “The economic impacts of learning losses”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 225, OECD Publishing, Paris

Table 1. Lost Individual Income due to Covid-19 induced learning loss

Economic impacts of covid-19

• Slower economic growth caused by learning losses due to Covid-19
• High human capital is one of the biggest determinants of long-run economic growth and prosperity
• Table 2 relates skills of the labor force to economic growth to estimate GDP losses for G20 countries caused by school closures
• The economic losses from one third of a year of school closures:
• South Africa – $504 bln.
• Russian Federation - $2.7 trillion
• US - $14.4 trillion

Source: Hanushek, E and L. Woessmann (2020), “The economic impacts of learning losses”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 225, OECD Publishing, Paris



Table 2. Present value of loss in GDP due to Corona-induced learning loss for G20

Policy recommendations

• Countries need to compensate for time and ground lost during the pandemic.
• Focus on teacher training in technology use in instruction and applications
• Universities need to be prepared to provide resources for distance learning
• Accommodate more effective instructors in a better manner
• Develop educational materials to be shared via public televisions
• Public libraries can be a resource
• Internet access on reduced/subsidized prices for eligible families and students