A boy studying in Sindh, Pakistan. Photo - razum / Shutterstock.com
It was a tough time for Abdul and his family, when schools in Pakistan were forced to close due to COVID-19. The family was not able to access remote learning opportunities and did not have any books for the children. They waited anxiously for schools to reopen, concerned the children would forget what they had learned. “We feel so relieved now that schools are open again,” says Abdul., “It’s because we are concerned about their education.”
It is indeed wonderful to see pictures of children going back to school in Pakistan - eyes filled with eagerness to learn, and faces beaming with the excitement of reuniting with friends. For a moment, one forgets the hardships so many families have experienced over the last seven months.
This sudden visibility of schooling stands in stark contrast with the invisibility of the crisis that quietly grew in homes when schools were shut. That is the learning crisis, which is now beginning to reveal itself to the country’s teachers, policymakers and development partners.
We have spent the last seven months thinking about the learning loss that has accumulated in Pakistan and, indeed, around the world, and now have first estimates on the impacts in Pakistan. We also directly track how the crisis affects schools and families, on which we expect to report soon.
