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Can digital literacy and Equal Rating solutions help connect the unconnected? Today, 4 billion people live without the internet. There’s a global debate about how to connect the unconnected, but ...

School closures - even when temporary - carry high social and economic costs. The disruptions they cause touch people across communities, but their impact is particularly severe for disadvantaged boys and girls and their families. Some of the reasons why school closures are so harmful are listed below. While the list is far from comprehensive, it helps clarify why school closures should matter to all of us. Interrupted learning: Schooling provides essential learning and when schools close,...

“Enrolling in this school gave me hope,” says Asma Al Ahmad who fled the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic and found refuge in the Bekaa region of Lebanon. The 16-year-old girl was deprived of education for two years, living in a refugee camp in Saadnayel. Last year, she was offered the opportunity to resume her education at a middle school established by UNESCO to provide educational complementary support programmes for young displaced Syrians. "I hope I will have a future and succeed in life, she says.

Research indicates that preschool children need to learn pre-math skills to build a foundation for primary- and secondary-level mathematics. This paper presents the results from the early stages of a pilot mathematics program implemented in Cordillera, Paraguay. In a context of significant gaps in teacher preparation and pedagogy, the program uses interactive audio segments that cover the entire preschool math curriculum. Since Paraguayan classrooms tend to be bilingual, the audio and...

This report is about gender norms – the implicit informal rules about appropriate behaviour for people of different genders – that most people accept and follow. It is about the ways in which gender equality, women’s and girls’ rights and the norms that shape the ability to claim those rights, have progressed over time. It examines how gender norms have changed in the 25 years since the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action on women’s rights was set out in 1995, and their role in progress and setbacks to achieving these rights.

This report is about gender norms – the implicit informal rules about appropriate behaviour for people of different genders – that most people accept and follow. It is about the ways in which gender equality, women’s and girls’ rights and the norms that shape the ability to claim those rights, have progressed over time. It examines how gender norms have changed in the 25 years since the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action on women’s rights was set out in 1995, and their role in progress and setbacks to achieving these rights.

In the 60-plus year history of returns to investment in education estimates, there have been several compilations in the literature. This paper updates Psacharopoulos and Patrinos and reviews the latest trends and patterns based on 1120 estimates in 139 countries from 1950 to 2014. The private average global return to a year of schooling is 9% a year. Private returns to higher education increased, raising issues of financing and equity. Social returns to schooling remain high. Women continue...

Abstract: Using a pair of randomized evaluations, I evaluate a computer assisted learning program designed to reinforce students understanding of material presented in class. The program was implemented in both an in-school and out-of-school model allowing me to assess different strategies for integrating the technology into the existing schools. The effect of the program critically depends on the method of implementation. The program was a poor substitute for the teacher delivered...

This Thematic Review summarises the learning around how community-based structures (CBSs) supported projects during COVID-19 school and community-based education closures. It examines the role of CBSs in supporting Girls’ Education Challenge projects to pivot successfully and identifies six characteristics of successful utilisation of CBSs. This Thematic Review is primarily aimed at projects, implementors and non-governmental organisations interested in working with CBSs to maximise...

Session 6: How do I ensure my EdTech investments are cost-effective? [EdTech Hub Presentation]

Chuang, R., & Proctor, J. - 2022

The Strategic Choices for Education Reform workshop held in Zimbabwe in November 2022 aimed to provide a forum for senior government officials to reflect and consider the strategic reform options for their countries. The objective was to convene officials in key positions in the ministries of education, higher education, finance, and planning to learn about important issues and approaches in education; exchange experiences and lessons; develop an understanding of what is necessary to...

Sierra Leone Digital Learning Landscape Analysis: Developing the National Digital Learning Strategy (Helpdesk Response No. 175)

Waziri, N., Mufti, A., Ramesh Vasudevan, S., … Oyedele, O. - 2025 - EdTech Hub

In 2024, the World Bank submitted a request to EdTech Hub's Helpdesk to support the Government of Sierra Leone in developing a National Digital Learning Strategy. The Hub initiated the process with the creation of this digital learning landscape analysis. The report identifies achievements and progress to date, as well as key challenges and priority areas going forward. It is based on primary and secondary data collection methods, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions,...

Learning from Experience: A post-Covid-19 data architecture for a resilient education data ecosystem in Sierra Leone [Working Paper]

Fab Inc. - 2021 - EdTech Hub

An output of the EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all countries implemented school closures to prevent disease transmission. However, prolonged closures can put children at risk of leaving school permanently, a decision that can reduce their long-term potential and income. This study investigated the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures reduced school attendance in Malawi, a low-income African country. We used longitudinal data from a cohort of...

This article analyses the emergence of ‘teenage pregnancy’ as a new policy focus in post-Ebola Sierra Leone and explores how Sierra Leoneans interpret the problem of ‘teenage pregnancy’. I argue that the new policy focus is not indicative of changing or new problems. Rather, ‘teenage pregnancy’ has created opportunities for donors and the Government of Sierra Leone to continue cooperation in gender politics. At the same time, Sierra Leoneans are clearly concerned about ‘teenage pregnancy’,...

In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, there is a learning crisis. Children from the most marginalised groups face insurmountable barriers to accessing a quality education, while many of those who are in school are not learning. Foundational learning is often described as the essential skills and knowledge that serve as the basis for further learning and development, and includes basic literacy (reading and writing) and numeracy (mathematics), and more recently, a...

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) supports close to 70 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality education. The featured stories in this report show the progress that developing country partners are making in getting more children, especially girls, in school and learning. The results are not only evidence of their commitment to improve education, but also of the sustained and targeted support provided by GPE. Feature stories are included from the following...