A call for concerted support: African countries need to mitigate the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on education

In Africa, close to 300 million learners were affected by COVID-19–related school closures, leading to massive learning setbacks. Though all countries in sub-Saharan Africa reopened schools, gaps remain with regard to understanding the pandemic’s long-term impacts and how educational systems in Africa can mitigate them. Unfortunately, many low-income countries, including a majority of countries in Africa, cannot afford the huge investments associated with building resilience and reversing some of the impacts of COVID-19, such as learning loss and an increase in out-of-school children and youth.

It is against this background that the KIX Observatory on COVID-19 Responses in Africa’s Educational Systems[1] collected perspectives of education stakeholders on the potential long-term impacts of COVID-19 on educational systems in seven sub-Saharan Africa countries of Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, and Nigeria. The findings of the project were documented in the report ‘The Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Educational Systems in Africa: Perspective of Education Stakeholders from sub-Saharan Africa’.