The effects of COVID-19 on education in Ethiopia: Informing short- and medium-term policy responses
The effects of COVID-19 on education in Ethiopia: Informing short- and medium-term policy responses*
PIs: Professor Tassew Woldehanna, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & Professor Pauline Rose, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK.
The research aims to explore the effects of COVID-19 on education in Ethiopia at the national, sub-national and local level, with a focus on the effects on those from disadvantaged backgrounds. It seeks to identify what is being done to ensure education continues while schools are closed, how they need to adapt to mitigate the effect that the virus has had once schools re-open, and to ensure appropriate provisions are in place to help respond adequately to any further crises. Phone interviews will be conducted with key education stakeholders including school principals, teachers, parents, government officials and donors. The data collected will complement and extend the team’s ongoing Research for Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Ethiopia study, which has been tracking the implementation and impact of large-scale government reforms, aimed to improve equitable learning since 2018. The study aims to inform the Ethiopian government’s immediate response to COVID-19, to share our findings within the wider academic and policy community, and to inform the team’s future research, that will provide evidence on the medium-term impacts of the pandemic, with lessons for the future.
Picture credit: RISE programme, Ethiopia
*This project is supported by a Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund COVID-19 Emergency Award.