Educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide 2020-2022

The COVID-19 pandemic had severe impacts on almost every aspect of life, from health via economy to education. School closures around the world caused disruptions in learning development of children and youth. South Asia as well as Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest number of weeks where schools were either partially or fully closed. In the former, a total of 84 weeks of education were conducted either partially or completely remote. On the other hand, Europe and Central Asia saw just above 30 weeks of some form of remote learning.

Infrastructure and remote learning

It may not come as a surprise, then, that South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean were the two regions with the highest levels of learning delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, different countries in different regions have different infrastructures that make remote learning possible. For instance, Sub-Saharan Africa, where many countries have a poor internet infrastructure, was the region with the highest number of academic weeks held in person as remote learning was impossible in many areas.

Economic impact

The learning disruptions caused by the pandemic could also have severe economic impacts in the future if counter measures are not taken. Estimates show that globally, 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars of GDP could be lost annually by 2040 due to the educational disruptions caused by COVID-19.