Investing in Remote Learning while Building the Education System of the Future (News and Research 207)

How to invest in remote learning while building the education system of the future Webinar | Tuesday, August 11, 2020 | 9:00 am -10:00 am EST | Register

Pivoting to Inclusion: Leveraging Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis for Learners with Disabilities  New issues paper is out now. This paper is aligned with the Bank’s education approach including Safe & Inclusive Schools.

United Nations: Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond  Recommendations: Suppress transmission of the virus and plan thoroughly for school; Re-openings; Protect education financing and coordinate for impact; Build resilient education systems for equitable and sustainable development; Reimagine education and accelerate change in teaching and learning.

How do we build the education system of the future? LinkedIn  Facebook  Twitter  YouTube

COVID-19 Pandemic May Result in a Long-term Human Development Crisis in Central Asia, Warn World Bank Experts The COVID-19 pandemic is dealing a blow to education and learning so destructive we will feel its negative effects for decades to come, including $44 billion in economic loss in Central Asia alone, and this is not our most pessimistic scenario, said Ayesha Vawda… The World Bank in Central Asia and globally has always put special focus on education and building human capital, understanding too well that these investments bring the highest dividends, said Lilia Burunciuc, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia. Currently, we have adapted three education projects in the region to respond to COVID: in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Uzbekistan. Through these projects, we were able to mobilize some support for emergency and remote learning. For instance, in Kazakhstan this includes monitoring distance learning and provision of digital equipment for rural teachers.  Times of Central Asia | Modern Diplomacy | Forbes | Emergency Europe | India Education Diary

Pearson Raises Nearly $460M Through Social Bond for Virtual, Career Programs | World Bank Senior Education Specialist Janssen Edelweiss Teixeira distinguished the social impact bond model from Pearson’s fundraising effort, which resembles a commercial-type bond. In the social impact bond framework, “if previously agreed results are achieved, an outcome funder (usually a government) pays the upfront capital back to the investor together with a premium, a return,” Teixeira said in an e-mail. “If the results are not achieved, the investor loses its capital.”

Webinar Working with what you’ve got: Design-based strategies to allow schools to re-open safely, part of the BBB series “School Infrastructure Resilience Reimagined After COVID-19,” materials from the event are now available.

Covid-19 could push some universities over the brink | Higher education was in trouble even before the pandemic | Due to be completed in 2022, Boston University’s $141m data-sciences centre will tower over the city like an uneven Jenga tower, providing 350,000 square feet of space. The University of Reading in Britain has nearly finished a £50m ($65m) life-sciences building, designed to make more space for subjects that are attracting lots of students. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia has pumped more than A$500m ($360m) into new facilities, as part of a project intended to push it into the top 50 of global rankings…

Covid-19 will be painful for universities, but also bring change | They need to rethink how and what they teach | In the normal run of things, late summer sees airports in the emerging world fill with nervous 18-year-olds, jetting off to begin a new life in the rich world’s universities. The annual trek of more than 5m students is a triumph of globalisation. Students see the world; universities get a fresh batch of high-paying customers. Yet with flights grounded and borders closed, this migration is about to become the pandemic’s latest victim…

The Lost Generation? Labor Market Outcomes for Post Great Recession Entrants  Recession entrants have lower wages and employment than those of earlier cohorts; more recent cohorts’ employment is even lower, but the newest entrants’ wages have risen.

Can pandemics affect educational attainment? Evidence from the polio epidemic of 1916 Using polio morbidity as a proxy for epidemic exposure, we find that children aged 10 and under, and school-aged children of legal working age with greater exposure to the epidemic experienced reduced educational attainment compared to their slightly older peers.

A Brief Introduction to Human Capital Measures There are six major measures of human capital, each of which covers at least 130 countries. These include Human Capital Index by the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank, 2018).

The pandemic puts a strain on elite private schools  Some will probably be forced to close.

Pupils in Northern Germany are First in Europe to Return to School  Thousands of children in northern Germany became the first in Europe to begin a new school year today after months of curtailed hours over the coronavirus pandemic.

Transforming Teacher Education in the West Bank and Gaza : Policy Implications for Developing Countries  This paper provides a comprehensive review of the World Bank–supported Teacher Education Improvement Project for Grades 1-4 Class Teachers in the West Bank and Gaza (2008-19) and has important policy implications for similar initiatives in other developing economies.

Fostering Human Capital in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries The formation of human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes–is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The data revolution comes to higher education: Identifying students at risk of dropout in Chile Results show that data available at matriculation are only weakly predictive of persistence, while prediction improves dramatically once data on university grades become available. Some predictors of persistence are under policy control. Financial aid predicts higher persistence, and being denied a first-choice major predicts lower persistence. Student success programs are ineffective at some universities; they are more effective at others, but when effective they often fail to target the highest risk students. Universities should use data regularly and systematically to identify high-risk students, target them with interventions, and evaluate those interventions’ effectiveness.

World Bank Appoints New Country Manager for the Kyrgyz Republic The World Bank announced today the appointment of Naveed Hassan Naqvi as World Bank Country Manager for the Kyrgyz Republic, replacing Bolormaa Amgaabazar who was in this position since August 2017.

Georgian schools, universities to reopen September 15 Georgian schools and universities will reopen on September 15, depending the epidemiological situation in the country. Head of the National Disease Control Centre (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze stated that there will be safety measures for schools and universities in order to prevent the risk of spreading virus.