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The widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the learning crisis for children living in Eastern and Southern Africa. The crisis has also shown the great need to develop resilient education systems that can provide learning when schools are forced to close. Understanding how to provide remote learning equitably utilizing multiple modalities and emphasizing low-tech solutions in Eastern and Southern Africa is critical given the great challenges facing the region in terms of electricity and connectivity access. This report provides a summary of lessons learned in the East and Southern Africa region from remote learning during COVID-19 and provides concrete recommendations on how to increase the resilience of education systems.

Emerging evidence shows a positive association between women school leaders and student performance. Some studies suggest women school leaders are more likely than their male counterparts to adopt effective management practices that may contribute to improved outcomes. However, women remain largely underrepresented in school leadership positions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This brief presents emerging insights on the association between women school leaders and education outcomes and draws attention to women's underrepresentation in school leadership roles. It highlights the need for further research on gender and school leadership to identify policies and practices that can be implemented to increase women's representation and scale high-quality management practices adopted by women leaders to more schools to improve education outcomes for all children. [The development of this brief was a collaborative effort with the Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI), led by International Institute for Educational Planning-UNESCO Dakar and the UN Girls' Education Initiative.]

One tool that many families own, across the globe, is a basic mobile phone. The use of low-cost basic mobile phones for educational purposes in humanitarian settings is critical where access to connectivity and higher cost devices is limited. The portability of mobile phones, combined with their communication features, offers multiple uses to support education in emergency (EiE). This report is the second of a two-part series that aims to provide practitioners with guidance and resources on, and lessons learned for, using mobile technology in EiE settings. The series draws from a review of the existing literature with feedback from and interviews with EiE practitioners. The first piece of this series -- "On Call: The Use of Mobile Phones for Learning in Emergencies" (ED624512) -- explores how basic mobile phones can be used to support EiE learning programmes and teacher training. It emphasizes key practices that education practitioners have adopted to improve the equity and safety of mobile phone-based programmes. The present report, the second in this series, instead provides guidance on planning and delivering learning assessments through mobile technology.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the loss of teaching hours due to teacher absenteeism corresponds to a waste of approximately 46 cents for every US dollar invested in education, an annual wastage of 1-3% of GDP. This brief summarizes the results of research in 11 countries in West and Central Africa under the Time to Teach study, a project in UNICEF that aims to provide critical insights into the factors that underpin different forms of primary school teacher absenteeism. It explains the frequency of teacher absenteeism in four forms--absence from school, lateness or early departure, absence from the classroom, and reduced time on task--and the reasons teachers give for their absence. But teachers are also motivated by factors such as training, availability of teaching and learning resources, and other non-system factors. More details are available in the country reports.

COVID-19 school closures initially revealed more than 75% of children lacked access to critical digital learning opportunities. Three out of four were living in the poorest 40% of households. Digital learning is impossible without connectivity and electricity. However, in places like Chad, Malawi and Niger, the proportion of people with access to electricity is below 1 in 5. What efforts will ensure these children are not further left behind in future crises if schools are again closed? How much will universal access to digital learning cost? The answer is US$1.4 trillion. This paper estimates the cost of universalizing digital learning by 2030, in alignment with the conceptual framework of the Reimagine Education initiative. It provides a rationale for cost assumptions; classifies costs into enabling digital learning and delivering digital learning; and, finally, discusses financing achievability by comparing the estimated costs with current spending in education and other sectors.

In 2019, 135 million people in 55 countries were in food crises or worse, and 2 billion people did not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. COVID-19 has exacerbated these hardships and may result in an additional 121 million people facing acute food insecurity by the end of 2020. Further, since the beginning of the pandemic, an estimated 1.6 billion learners in 199 countries worldwide were affected by school closures, with nearly 370 million children not receiving a school meal in 150 countries. The paper presents the evidence on the potential negative short-term and long-term effects of school meal scheme disruption during COVID-19 globally. It shows how vulnerable the children participating in these schemes are, how coping and mitigation measures are often only short-term solutions, and how prioritizing school re-opening is critical. For instance, it highlights how girls are at greater risk of not being in school or of being taken out of school early, which may lead to poor nutrition and health for themselves and their children. However, well-designed school feeding programmes have been shown to enable catch-up from early growth failure and other negative shocks. As such, once schools re-open, school meal schemes can help address the deprivation that children have experienced during the closures and provide an incentive for parents to send and keep their children, especially girls, in school.

COVID-19 lockdowns have significantly disrupted the daily lives of children and adolescents, with increased?time at home, online learning and limited physical social interaction. This report seeks to understand the immediate effects on their mental health. Covering more than 130,000 children and adolescents across 22 countries, the evidence shows?increased stress,?anxiety and depressive?symptoms, as well as increased alcohol and substance use, and externalizing behavioural problems. Children and adolescents?also reported?positive coping strategies, resilience, social connectedness through digital media, more family?time, and?relief from academic stress. Factors such as demographics, relationships and pre-existing conditions are critical. To ensure children and adolescents are supported, the report recommends building the evidence on the longer-term impact of the pandemic on child and adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries, including vulnerable populations.

This publication explores the link between the gender of the school principal and the performance of pupils at the end of primary school in reading and mathematics in fourteen French-speaking African countries, based on PASEC2019 data. This study was produced as part of the Women in Learning Leadership (WiLL) program of the Gender at the Center Initiative (GCI) of IIEP-UNESCO. Through an approach that combines the co-creation of evidence and the development of national capacities, hand-in-hand with ministries of education and partners, WiLL seeks to promote the adoption of best practices in school leadership while fostering equitable gender representation in school leadership positions in low- and middle-income countries.